Following problems of drug intolerance in patients with SMA who had received paracetamol for pain relief, Danish researchers undertook a pharmacokinetic study:
- six children and six adults with SMA were included and compared with eleven healthy subjects,
- all were given paracetamol at the usual recommended doses,
- repeated serum determinations of several paracetamol metabolites and hepatic biomarkers were used to calculate the product’s elimination slope,
- paracetamol clearance is clearly reduced in patients with SMA,
- one patient even experienced a significant increase in liver transaminase levels with this treatment.
The authors recommend reducing the dose in this at-risk population (15 mg/kg/take, up to a maximum of 4 grams daily).
