11/12- Pediatric Developmental Pharmacology Flashcards
(44 cards)
Over __% of FDA approved drugs DO NOT have neonatal labeling and this has resulted in things like what?
Over 90% of FDA approved drugs DO NOT have neonatal labeling and this has resulted in things like:
- Grey baby syndrome (Chloramphenicol)
- Kernicterus (Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole)
- Unconjugated bilirubin accumulating in the brain causing encephalopathy
What are some of the challenges in neonatal pharmacotherapy?
- Lack of safety and efficacy data
- Lack of neonatal dosing guidelines
- Lack of commercially available formulations
When do the most dramatic changes in developmental pharmacokinetics occur?
First 12 mo of life
- Ongoing process throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence
What are some physiological differences that affect pharmacokinetics?
- Absorption
- Distribution
- Metabolism
- Excretion
What are the different methods of absorption?
- Oral
- Intramuscular
- Transdermal
- Rectal
- Intravenous
What age-dependent factors affect oral administration?
Rate and extent extent of GI absorption are influenced by age related changes
- pH
- Gastric emptying time
- Intestinal integrity
- GI motility
How does gastric pH change in development?
- “Relative achlorhydria” (pH > 4) in neonates
- Reaches adult value around 2 years of age
- Drug absorption
- Acidic pH ↑ absorption of acidic drugs (phenobarbital, phenytoin)
- Basic pH ↑ absorption of basic drugs (penicillin, ampicillin)
How does gastric emptying time change in development?
- Most absorption at the small intestine (like adult)
- Motility is irregular -> difficult to predict the extent or time for peak drug absorption
- Factors affecting gastric emptying time
- Gestational age, disease states, dietary intake
- Reaches adult values at 6-8 months of age
Describe the intestinal integrity in development
- What factors would increase drug absorption
- Describe the role of smolality
- Immature or altered permeability of intestinal mucosa increases drug absorption
- GI integrity is influenced by drug osmolality (high medication osmotic load is attributable to inactive additives like preservatives or flavorings)
- ↑ Osmolality destroys GI integrity
- ↑ Risk of necrotizing enterocolitis
- Avoid high osmolality medications until full enteral feeds are achieved
What are some disease states affecting GI absorption?
Gastric acid secretion
- Surgical removal of small bowel
Delayed gastric emptying
- Pyloric stenosis
- Congenital heart disease
Intestinal transit time
- Protein calorie malnutrition (↑)
- Thyroid disorders (hypo: ↑ ; hyper:↓)
- Diarrhea (↓)
What are the developmental adaptations with oral absorption?
- Established doses have compensated for differences
- Monitor blood concentrations for drugs with narrow therapeutic ranges
What factors influence absorption of IM administered drugs?
- Skeletal muscle blood flow
- Muscle size
- Muscle activity
__ is preferred over IM administration
IV is preferred over IM administration
What is the preferred location for IM administration?
Anterolateral thigh
- Not butt, because you may compromise the sciatic nerve
What factors influence absorption of transdermally administered drugs?
- Skin thickness
- Skin hydration
- Surface area of skin
- Skin damage
Why are transdermal drugs not preferred?
Increased absorption
- Newborn’s ratio of skin surface area to body weight is approximately 3 times that of an adult Possible systemic toxicity
- Corticosteroids, alcohol, diphenhydramine
Describe rectal administration in development
- How is bioavailability altered
- Risks
- Effective
- Bioavailability may be increased for some drugs
- Bypass first pass metabolism (lower rectum)
- Diazepam and acetaminophen
- Not for routine use
- Risk of perforation of intestinal wall
Quick aside on volume of distribution…
- Volume of distribution is a concept used to explain the drug concentrations we achieve
- Magnitude of Vd provides insight into drug distribution
- Large Vd → absorption in fat or protein binding
- Small Vd → distribution in plasma only
How do fluid compartments change during development?
- TBW and extracellular water percentages decrease
- Adipose tissue % increases

What do the increased % TBW and extracellular water mean for pediatric patients?
Recall: C = dose/volume
- Larger doses of hydrophilic and smaller doses of lipophilic drugs are required in neonates
- Ex) smaller doses of Gentamicin given with increasing age
Only ___ (bound/unbound) drug is pharmacologically active
Only unbound drug is pharmacologically active
- Neonatal patients have qualitative and quantitative differences in protein binding
How does protein binding change in development?
There is decreased protein binding in neonates vs. adults (more free drug)

Ex) 55 year old healthy male vs. 8 month old healthy male
- Total phenytoin level = 18 mcg/mL
- Who has higher FREE phenytoin level?
The neonate (?)
Decreased albumin levels means what for drugs? Ex?
More displacement of drugs/endogenous substances
- Ex) Ceftriaxone & SMP/TMX
- Displace bilirubin from albumin binding sites
- ↑ free bilirubin in bloodstream and risk of kernicterus
