Practical Challenges—Use of Paracetamol in Children and Youth Who are Overweight or Obese: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Worldwide, > 380 million children and adolescents are overweight or obese, including 41 million children aged < 5 years. Obesity can change the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs by altering their distribution, metabolism, and elimination. Thus, children who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for receiving inappropriate doses of commonly used drugs, which can result in treatment failure, adverse events, and/or drug toxicity. This review analyzes available data on paracetamol dosing for pain and fever in children and adolescents who are overweight or obese to identify gaps and challenges in optimal dosing strategies. Literature searches using Medline, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov were conducted to identify English-language articles reporting paracetamol pharmacokinetics, dosing practices, and guidelines in children and adolescents who are overweight or obese. Of 24 relevant studies identified, 20 were specific to overweight/obese individuals and 15 were specific to children and/or adolescents. Data on paracetamol pharmacokinetics in children and adolescents who are overweight or obese are lacking, and there is no high-quality evidence to guide paracetamol prescribing practices in these patients. Adult data have been extrapolated to pediatric populations; however, extrapolation does not address differences in paracetamol metabolism in adults versus children; the efficacy and safety effects of such differences are unknown. Given the growing worldwide prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents and the likelihood that paracetamol use in this population will increase accordingly, obesity-specific pediatric dosing guidelines for paracetamol are urgently needed. High-quality research is necessary to inform such guidelines.