Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a population pharmacokinetic model of meropenem in a heterogeneous population of patients with a serious bacterial infection in order to propose dosing optimisation leading to improved achievement of the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) target.
Methods: A total of 174 meropenem serum levels obtained from 144 patients during therapeutic drug monitoring were analysed using a non-linear mixed-effects modelling approach and Monte Carlo simulation was then used to compare various dosing regimens in order to optimise PK/PD target attainment.
Results: The meropenem volume of distribution of the patient population was 54.95 L, while clearance started at 3.27 L/hour and increased by 0.91 L/hour with each 1 mL/s/1.73 m2 of estimated glomerular filtration rate. Meropenem clearance was also 0.31 L/hour higher in postoperative patients with central nervous system infection. Meropenem administration by continuous infusion showed a significantly higher probability of attaining the PK/PD target than a standard 30 min infusion (95.3% vs 49.5%).
Conclusions: A daily meropenem dose of 3 g, 6 g and 10.5 g administered by continuous infusion was shown to be accurate for patients with moderate to severe renal impairment, normal renal function to mild renal impairment and augmented renal clearance, respectively.
Keywords: administration, intravenous; critical care; drug monitoring; pharmacy service, hospital; practice guideline.
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