C
Grade

Prednisone

Some PK studies in children have been published, however, no infants were included. No effect of age on the PK of prednisolone has been found.

Level 1

Population PK model including infants

Author Method Number of Patients/Infants(<1yrs) Age(yr), Median(range) Age related findings
Sassen (2021) One compartment popPK model. Allometric scaling for BW. Plasma protein binding of prednisolone and the ratio of prednisolone/prednisone was included as covariate. 124 / 1 (Fig. 3) 6.2 (0.4–17.7) The plasma protein binding of prednisolone to corticosteroid-binding globulin was associated with patient age. The estimated corticosteroid-binding globulin concentration decreased with age. No correlation between CL of unbound prednisolone (corrected for BSA) and age was observed.

Level 2

PK model including infants or PopPK model without infants

Author Method Number of Patients/Infants(<1yrs) Age(yr), Median(range) Age related findings
Petersen (2003) Two compartment popPK model. BSA was included as covariate on CL. BW was included as covariate on V1 and V2. 23 / 0 5.4 (2.4-15.2) No additional effect of age on PK parameters that was not explained by BSA or BW.

Level 3

Non-compartmental PK study or PK model without infants

Author Method Number of Patients/Infants(<1yrs) Age(yr), Median(range) Age related findings
Choonara (1989) Non-compartmental pharmacokinetics 6 / 0 4.75 (2.8-12.4) No effect of age on PK in these 6 patients. But values here for CL (mL/min/kg) are slightly higher than those reported in studies with older children.
Hill (1990) Non-compartmental pharmacokinetics 43 / 0 10 (2-50), mean (range) Significant negative correlation between BSA-normalized CL and age. Children <12 years old had higher CL than older children and adults.