The effect of age on the pharmacokinetics of metoprolol and its metabolites.

1 Plasma concentrations of metoprolol and a pharmacologically active metabolite, H119/66, have been measured in young and elderly volunteers after a single dose of 100 mg metoprolol tartrate and after repeated administrated over a period of 1 week. Whilst concentrations of metoprolol are similar in each group, concentrations of H119/66 are approximately twice as high in the elderly. 2 Concentrations of unchanged metoprolol and of the major, but pharmacologically inactive, metabolite, H117/04, together with the two active metabolites of metoprolol have been determined in urine. Only the excretion of metoprolol was diminished in the elderly. 3 Areas under the plasma concentration curve for metoprolol after repeated administration are greater than would be predicted from single dose data, and possible explanations for this are discussed. Concentrations of the pharmacologically active metabolite, H119/66, remain unaltered during chronic dosing of metoprolol. 4 This study has shown that the effect of age on the pharmacokinetics of metoprolol and its metabolites is less pronounced than that observed for other drugs.