[Determination of correlations between the main pharmacokinetic parameters and physiopathological factors of...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the correlation between pharmacokinetic and physiopathological parameters of flecainide in elderly population. Pharmacokinetics of flecainide was determined in seventeen patients, aged more than 60 years, with clinically documented ventricular extrasystoles. Patients received 1.5 mg/kg flecainide either by intravenous administration or by slow perfusion. In elderly population the elimination half-life, the mean residence time and the volume of distribution of flecainide are increased and the plasmatic clearance is reduced. All of these parameters show an important interindividual variability. The relationships between pharmacokinetic and physiopathological parameters were evaluated with multivariate analysis. The correlation obtained (89.86% for total clearance, 64.64% for volume of distribution, 42.59% and 31.12% for elimination and distribution half-lives) provide a relatively good determination of pharmacokinetic parameters of flecainide in aged patients.