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 Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmaco ...

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 complic ...

. When a drug has a narrow

therapeutic index The therapeutic index (TI; also referred to as therapeutic ratio) is a quantitative measurement of the relative safety of a drug with regard to risk of overdose. It is a comparison of the amount of a therapeutic agent that causes toxicity to the ...

, 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 insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

anticonvulsant Anticonvulsants (also known as antiepileptic drugs, antiseizure drugs, or anti-seizure medications (ASM)) are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also used in the treatme ...

blood thinner An anticoagulant, commonly known as a blood thinner, is a chemical substance that prevents or reduces the coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some occur naturally in blood-eating animals, such as leeches and mosquitoes, which he ...

anti-depressant Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. Common side effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, akathisia, sexua ...

s, and

sedative A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or Psychomotor agitation, excitement. They are central nervous system (CNS) Depressant, depressants and interact with brain activity, causing its decelera ...

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 vertebra ...

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

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 An experimental drug is a medicinal product (a drug or vaccine) that has not yet received drug approval, approval from governmental regulatory agency, regulatory authorities for routine use in human medicine, human or veterinary medicine. A medicin ...

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 pre-clinical, phase I or early phase II ...

''.

References

Pharmacology {{pharm-stub

See also

References