Practical dosing of praziquantel for schistosomiasis in preschool‐aged children. Issue 9 (13th August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Olliaro, Piero L.; Vaillant, Michel; Hayes, Daniel J.; Montresor, Antonio; Chitsulo, Lester
• Is Part Of: Tropical medicine & international health. Volume 18:Issue 9(2013:Sep.)
• Page Start: 1085
• Page End: 1089
• Publication Date: 2013-08-13
• Subjects: Tropical medicine -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 616.988
• DOI: 10.1111/tmi.12152
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-2276

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="tmi12152-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="tmi12152-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>Schistosomiasis is known to occur in preschool‐aged children, but achieving accurate dosing of praziquantel in its current form is challenging. While waiting for a paediatric formulation, there is a need to develop a means for using the available products to treat this age group. Current 600‐mg tablets are differently scored to give units of 150 mg (a quarter of a tablet) or 300 mg (half a tablet).</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12152-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>We examined several dosing schemes to dose accurately (40‐60 mg/kg) children aged 3–72 months (weight range 4–25 kg, based on available weight‐for‐age growth references from sub‐Saharan Africa and Brazil, <italic>n</italic> = 106, 230).</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12152-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Adequate dosing can be achieved with formulations that can be split into four 150 mg quarters for children weighing 5 kg or more, and with tablets than can be split into two 300 mg halves for children weighing 10 kg or more. Giving ½ tablet for 5–7 kg; ¾ tablet for 8–10 kg; 1 tablet for 11–15 kg; 1 ½ tablet for 16–21 kg; and two tablets for 22–25 kg will have 100% of subjects correctly dosed within the target 40–60 mg/kg range.</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12152-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Formulations that can be divided into four parts (to give 150 mg increments) are preferred for children weighing less than 11 kg; the same dosing can be applied with 600 mf praziquantel formulations that can be divided into four quarters or two halves from 11 kg body weight.</p> </sec> </abstract>