Pharmacokinetics of antibiotics in children.

In designing the dosage regimen of antibiotics including beta-lactams in the field of pediatrics, the choice of adequate drugs, as well as the dosage and the number of administrations have not been performed exactly. This is possibly because of the extended spectrum of antibacterial activity in recent drugs. Even the timing of discontinuation has not been seriously considered. The present report mainly concentrates on several cephalosporins and demonstrates the pharmacokinetic characteristics of the drugs, and further, describes the difference in pharmacokinetic parameters between age groups. On the other hand, it has been suggested that based on the minimum inhibitory concentration for 80% (MIC80) of antibiotics against subject micro-organisms, the effective area under the concentration-time curve, time above MIC80 and Cmax/MIC80 should be considered and the suitability of drug choice, the dosage of suitable drugs, and the number of administrations should be decided. The dosage regimen in the present study was not designed to take into account the effects of sub-MIC and post-antibiotic effect. However, for monotherapy, the dosage regimen was designed to maintain the concentration of at least MIC, which is sufficient from the viewpoint of saving life.