Question

The dose of medicine for a child depends on the child’s age A in years and the adult dose D for the medication. Young’s rule is formula used by pediatricians that gives a child’s dose C as c=DA/(A+12)

Suppose that an 8-year old child needs medication, and the normal adult dose is 1000 mg. What size dose should the child receive?

Answer 1

The appropriate dosage for an 8-year-old child, using the standard adult dose of 1000 mg and applying Young's rule, is 400 mg. The calculation is crucial for safety to avoid any harmful or life-threatening consequences.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the appropriate dosage for an 8-year-old child using Young's rule, which calculates a child's dose based on their age and the standard adult dose, we use the formula C = D*A / (A + 12). Here, C represents the child's dose, D is the adult dose, and A is the age of the child in years.

Given an adult dose D of 1000 mg and the child's age A of 8 years, we plug these values into the formula: C = 1000*8 / (8 + 12), which simplifies to C = 8000 / 20. Calculating further, we find that C = 400 mg. Therefore, the appropriate dosage for the 8-year-old child would be 400 mg.

This dosage calculation is imperative to prevent administering a dose that could be harmful or life-threatening. Ensuring the correct dose is given according to the prescribed age range prevents both underdosing, which could be useless, and overdosing, which could be dangerous.