Levetiracetam clinical pharmacokinetics in elderly and very elderly patients with epilepsy

We aimed to compare apparent steady-state oral clearance (CL/F) of the antiepileptic drug levetiracetam (LEV) in elderly (66-80 years, n = 105) and very elderly (81-96 years, n = 70) vs nonelderly (30-65 years, n = 97) patients with epilepsy. Median weight-normalized CL/F (mL min(-1) kg(-1)) decreased from 1.23 (nonelderly) to 0.83 (elderly) and 0.59 (very elderly) (p < 0.001). LEV CL/F significantly declines with aging, elderly and very elderly patients requiring an about 30% and 50% lower dose, respectively, compared to nonelderly adults to achieve a given LEV plasma concentration. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.