Opportunistic dried blood spot sampling validates and optimizes a pediatric population pharmacokinetic model of metronidazole

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy April 2024

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Randell RL, Balevic SJ, Greenberg RG, Cohen-Wolkowiez M, Thompson EJ, Venkatachalam S, Smith MJ, Bendel C, Bliss JM, Chaaban H, Chhabra R, Dammann CEL, Downey LC, Hornik C, Hussain N, Laughon MM, Lavery A, Moya F, Saxonhouse M, Sokol GM, Trembath A, Weitk

Pharmacokinetic models rarely undergo external validation in vulnerable populations such as critically ill infants, thereby limiting the accuracy, efficacy, and safety of model-informed dosing in real-world settings. Here, we describe an opportunistic approach using dried blood spots (DBS) to evaluate a population pharmacokinetic model of metronidazole in critically ill preterm infants of gestational age (GA) ≤31 weeks from the Metronidazole Pharmacokinetics in Premature Infants study.