Abstract
AimsFlucloxacillin dosing may be guided by measurement of its total plasma concentrations. Flucloxacillin is highly protein bound with fraction unbound in plasma (f(u)) of around 0.04 in healthy individuals. The utility of measuring unbound flucloxacillin concentrations for patients outside the intensive care unit (ICU) is not established. We aimed to compare flucloxacillin f(u) in non-ICU hospitalised patients against healthy volunteers, and to examine the performance of a published model for predicting unbound concentrations, using total flucloxacillin and plasma albumin concentrations.
MethodsData from 12 healthy volunteers (248 samples) and 47 hospitalized patients (61 samples) were examined. Plasma flucloxacillin concentrations were measured using a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Flucloxacillin f(u) for the two groups was compared using a generalized estimating equation model to account for clustered observations. The performance of the single protein binding site prediction model in hospitalized patients was compared with measured unbound concentrations using Bland-Altman plots.
ResultsThe median (range) flucloxacillin f(u) for healthy (median albumin 45gl(-1)) and hospitalized individuals (median albumin 30gl(-1)) were 0.04 (0.02-0.07) and 0.10 (0.05-0.37), respectively (P<0.0001). The prediction model underpredicted unbound flucloxacillin concentrations with a mean bias (95% limits of agreement) of -54% (-137%, +30%).
ConclusionsThe flucloxacillin f(u) values observed in our cohort of hospitalized patients had a wide range and were greater than those of healthy individuals. Unbound flucloxacillin plasma concentrations were predicted poorly by the model. Instead, unbound concentrations should be measured to guide dosing.