Weight Adjusted Dosing

Weight-Adjusted Dosing
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Weight-Adjusted Dosing
The CDC points out that over one-third, equivalent to 36.5% of the adult population in the United States is obese (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, 2017). Due to these findings, there is a need to adopt the administering of drugs based on the body mass index or body surface area. It has been established that using the fixed-dosing regimen is more convenient as compared to the weight-adjusted dosing schedule for both the care providers and the patients. However, the weight-adjusted regimen promotes safety and efficacy as compared to the fixed-dosing treatment when it comes to a certain population or medication. Even though the weight-adjusted dosing criterion is challenging to use, the question to answer is whether it should be adopted when administering OTC and prescription medication in the US due to the high population of obese individuals.
The Pros/Cons of Weight-Adjusted Dosing
The safety of weight-adjusted dosing will depend on the type of drug used and the age of the patient. Medication errors are likely to arise when weight-based dosages are used for prescription medication. The medication errors are likely to cause overdose hence questioning the safety of weight-adjusted dosing. For instance, an obese 8-year old weighing 90 kg with a prescription of 100mg/kg/day ceftriaxone will have to take a 9-g dose instead of the recommended 4 g/day dose (Matson, Horton, Capino, &…