Which of the following dosage techniques results in the greatest difference between maximum (peak) and minimum (trough) concentrations after a dose? A: Small doses given at a short dosing interval B: Large doses given at a long dosing interval

Which of the following dosage techniques results in the greatest difference between maximum (peak) and minimum (trough) concentrations after a dose?
A: Small doses given at a short dosing interval
B: Large doses given at a long dosing interval

Answer

• B: Large doses given at a long dosing interval
  Explanation:
  The peak level is the highest concentration of a drug in the patient’s blood while trough level refers to the lowest concentration in the blood. Drugs have a specific period of time after which they are cleared out of the body, which is described as the half life. When a drug is administered, the curve goes up to its peak, and drops again after a certain period as the drug approaches half life. If another dose is administered, the curve will rise again to the maximum. However, the maximum the curve can go depends on the drug dose, implying that more dose will have a higher peak than a smaller dose. Similarly, assuming the half life of the two drugs is the same, the large dose administered after a longer interval will have been metabolized and cleared by larger percentage before the next dose is administered. This means the trough level for large dose administered after a long period will have the lowest minimum and highest maximum.