Drug titration is the process of adjusting the

dose Dose or Dosage may refer to: Music * ''Dose'' (Gov't Mule album), 1998 * ''Dose'' (Latin Playboys album) * ''Dosage'' (album), by the band Collective Soul * "Dose" (song), a 2018 song by Ciara * "Dose", song by Filter from the album '' Short ...

of a

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

for the maximum benefit without

adverse effects An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a " side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term compl ...

. When a drug has a narrow therapeutic index, titration is especially important, because the range between the dose at which a drug is effective and the dose at which side effects occur is small. Some examples of the types of drugs commonly requiring titration include

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

, anticonvulsants, blood thinners, anti-depressants, and

sedative A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement. They are CNS depressants and interact with brain activity causing its deceleration. Various kinds of sedatives can be distinguished, but ...

s. Titrating off of a medication instead of stopping abruptly is recommended in some situations.

Glucocorticoid Glucocorticoids (or, less commonly, glucocorticosteroids) are a class of corticosteroids, which are a class of steroid hormones. Glucocorticoids are corticosteroids that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor that is present in almost every verte ...

s should be tapered after extended use to avoid adrenal insufficiency. Drug titration is also used in

phase I Phase 1, Phase I or Phase One may refer to: Media * Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One, six American superhero films from 2008–2012 * ''Phase One'' (Art Ensemble of Chicago album), 1971 * ''Phase One'' (Saga album), 1998 * ''Phase One'', r ...

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

s. The experimental drug is given in increasing dosages until side effects become intolerable. A clinical trial in which a suitable dose is found is called a ''

dose-ranging study A dose-ranging study is a clinical trial where different doses of an agent (e.g. a drug) are tested against each other to establish which dose works best and/or is least harmful. Dose-ranging is usually a phase I or early phase II clinical trial ...

''.

References

Pharmacology {{pharm-stub

See also

References