On the elimination half-life of lithium in long-term treatment of patients with affective disorders

✍ Scribed by Agneta Nilsson; Rolf Axelsson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 703 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.470040404

✦ Synopsis

The elimination half-life of lithium was investigated in 55 patients on long-term treatment in 1980, when their mean treatment time was 7.5 years. Twenty-seven of the patients were reinvestigated 7 years later, at which point their mean treatment time was 15 years. An approximate method for determining the elimination half-life of lithium was used, and this variable was tested in eight chronic psychotic patients on lithium treatment, in whom the elimination half-life was also determined by a conventional technique. The elimination half-life was 32 h in 1980 and varied between 15 and 128 h. The elimination half-life was significantly increased 7 years later, with a median increase of 8 h. The elimination half-life of lithium was closely correlated to age and to daily weight-related dose of lithium when the patients entered the study in 1980, but this was not seen at the time of the reinvestigation in 1987. The elimination half-life did not vary with serum creatinine, maximal urine osmolality, or with the concomitant neuroleptic medication. Further studies are needed to clarify the clinical significance of the prolonged elimination half-life with time.