Penicillin doses for children need to be reviewed to take account of the fact youngsters are getting heavier meaning they may not be getting an adequate dose, experts have said.
The Daily Telegraph reports: Dosing guidelines have remained unchanged for almost 50 years and are mostly based on children’s ages.
But experts argue that the dose a child needs is determined by their weight – and the average weight of children has increased.
It means that children may not be receiving a big enough dose of antibiotics to combat their infection.
Giving inadequate doses also encourages bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics making them harder to treat in future, it was warned.
The average weight today of a five-year-old is 21kg and a 37kg for a 10-year-old – up to 20% higher than in 1963, researchers at King’s College London sad
“Underdoing may result in the need for retreatment and increases the risk of severe complications.
“All the published risk-benefit analyses on the therapeutic balance of antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections assume adequate antibiotic dosing.
“This is a real concern because clinically inadequate dosing would increase the number needed to treat to prevent any severe complications.”
The study, led by a team at King’s College London and St George’s, University of London, said they were “surprised at the lack of recent evidence” to support current dosing recommendations for penicillins.
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said ‘fractions’ of adult doses are calculated instead of basing the dose on the weight of the child who needs treatment.
More at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8958234/Bigger-doses-of-penicillin-needed-for-todays-bigger-children-doctors.html