Twenty-four-hour intragastric acidity following early evening or bedtime administration of roxatidine in duodenal ulcer patients.

AIM

To assess the usefulness of early evening administration of roxatidine 150 mg as an alternative to the traditional bedtime regimen.

METHODS

Twenty-four patients with healed duodenal ulcer were dosed according to a balanced incomplete-block design, with two of the following regimens: placebo, roxatidine 150 mg at 07.30 h (early evening) or roxatidine 150 mg at 22.00 h (bedtime). Twenty-four-hour intragastric pH-metry was started at 18.00 h on the first day of dosing. Median pH was determined for the 24-h period, and for the following time intervals: 20.00-00.00 h, 00.00-08.00 h and 08.00-18.00 h. Percentage time in the 24-h period with pH greater than 4.0 was also calculated.

RESULTS

The two roxatidine regimens proved significantly superior to the placebo, decreasing 24-h acidity for all the time intervals, except the 20.00-00.00 h period, when mean intragastric pH with the early evening regimen (4.5 +/- 1.1) proved significantly higher than after placebo (2.2 +/- 1.0) or when roxatidine was taken at bedtime (2.4 +/- 1.1).

CONCLUSION

Early evening administration of roxatidine may afford satisfactory control of 24-h acidity, offering a useful alternative to conventional bedtime administration.