Adequate antimicrobial treatment in elderly patients

This dissertation examines the use of antibiotics in elderly patients. Elderly patients use far more antibiotics than younger patients. While the same standard dosages are prescribed for all adult patients, elderly patients tend to have a higher concentration of antibiotics in their blood than younger patients. This is caused by reduced creatinine clearance of the antibiotics as a result of renal impairment. Like children, older patients require a modified dose of antibiotics. Adjusting this dose in older patients can be difficult because it is hard to make an accurate assessment of renal function in these patients, and because of significant individual differences among these patients. This study provides a number of recommendations for adjusting the dose of various types of antibiotics.