Influence of age on frequency of vancomycin dosing

Vancomycin is commonly prescribed at the authors' institution because of a high prevalence of invasive infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a generally younger population. The most commonly prescribed empiric dosing interval is every 12 h (q12h). However, observations have suggested that younger adult patients require more frequent dosing, such as every 8 h (q8h). Initial underdosing of vancomycin may increase the risk of antibiotic failure.

To determine whether patients under 40 years of age are more likely than older patients to require q8h dosing of vancomycin and whether recommendations can be made to alter current prescribing practices.

This retrospective unmatched case-control study involved patients who had received vancomycin for suspected or confirmed severe MRSA infections. The cases were patients who had been confirmed as requiring q8h dosing, and the controls were patients who had been confirmed as requiring q12h dosing (on the basis of target predose serum levels). The influence of age (the predictor variable) on outcome (the vancomycin regimen) was evaluated by logistic regression.

The odds ratio for patients under 40 years of age requiring q8h dosing was 3.1 (95% confidence interval 1.5-6.3) (p = 0.002). Sixty percent of patients under 40 ultimately required a q8h regimen to achieve target predose serum levels. Patients who required q8h dosing took longer to achieve their first therapeutic serum level than those with q12h dosing (median 6 versus 4 days; p < 0.001).

In this patient population, age less than 40 years was a strong predictor for requiring more frequent dosing of vancomycin. The authors suggest that doses of 15 mg/kg IV q8h be used empirically for younger patients with severe infections and normal renal function.