[Absorption of norethisterone acetate from tablets with normal and coarse particle size]

A clinical randomized double-blind trial with cross-over is presented. The object was to assess the absorption of 1 mg norethisterone acetate from tablets with particles of normal and coarse size. The hypothesis was that the coarse particles would result in retarded absorption. In this trial, eight healthy postmenopausal women with an average age of 72 years participated. The participants received the tablets in the morning with intervals of a week and the plasma concentration (C) was measured throughout 24 hours. The two absorption profiles showed significant differences after 30 minutes (p less than 0.05) with the following values: Tablets with normal particles resulted in C = 31.1 nmol/l while the analogous result with the coarse particles was C = 17.0 nmol/l. It is concluded that the coarse particles resulted in lower plasma concentrations initially.