Analysis of drug accumulation
1. Value for drug accumulation indicates how high the plasma concentration will be at steady state compared with the first dose of the drug at a comparable time within the dosage regimen.
2. Example, R = 2 simply suggests that the peak plasma concentration at steady state will be twice the peak plasma concentration for the first dose.
3. The minimum plasma concentration at steady state will be two times as high as the minimum plasma concentration for the first dose.
4. R value permits prediction of the peak, trough or ‘‘average’’ plasma concentrations at steady state from the knowledge of maximum, minimum or ‘‘average’’ plasma concentration for the first dose.