Acetaminophen Dosing in Obese Adolescents

Obesity represents one of the most important public health issues according to the World Health Organization. It has reached epidemic proportions globally, with approximately 1.5 billion overweight adults aged 20 years and older and at least 600 million of them clinically obese .Childhood obesity is particularly problematic, because the co morbid disease states which accompany early obesity may require frequent pharmacotherapy and/or surgical intervention. Many of the metabolic and cardiovascular complications of obesity may also be present during childhood. Despite increased pharmacotherapy among obese patients, there is a paucity of dosing guidelines for this population. Optimal drug dosing in obese pediatric patients has not been explored as the present data available is specific for obese adults. Acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used medications in pediatric patients. Although there are numerous studies investigating the pharmacokinetic properties of intravenous acetaminophen in infants and children with normal weight there are none in the obese pediatric patient . This study will investigate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of acetaminophen (total clearance and volume of distribution in obese children and adolescents