Intra- and interethnic variability in reduced haloperidol to haloperidol ratios

J Clin Pharmacol. 1995 Feb;35(2):128-36. doi: 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1995.tb05000.x.

Abstract

Steady-state haloperidol and reduced haloperidol concentrations were measured in 250 schizophrenic patients from 4 ethnic groups: 39 Blacks, 66 Caucasians, 82 Chinese, and 63 Mexican Americans. The distribution of the reduced haloperidol to haloperidol concentration (RH/HL) ratios was bimodal in all ethnic groups, with the antimode determined by probit plot as 0.46, 0.51, 0.36, and 0.76, respectively. With these antimodes, the proportion of patients with low RH/HL ratios were 41%, 42%, 73%, and 57% in the four ethnic groups, respectively. Compared with the other three ethnic groups, in the Chinese patients the ratio was lower. The mean RH/HL ratio in the Chinese was 0.34 compared with 0.81 to 0.87 in the non-Chinese groups. In 53 patients who were treated with two or more haloperidol dosage regimens, steady-state haloperidol and reduced haloperidol drug concentrations obtained from the different regimens were positively correlated with the haloperidol dose (R = .79 and R = .62, respectively). Our data suggest not only the existence of a bimodal distribution in the RH/HL ratio, but also that the antimode separating the low and high ratio subgroups is different among the various ethnic groups.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Asian People
  • Black People
  • Ethnicity*
  • Female
  • Haloperidol / pharmacokinetics*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Metabolic Clearance Rate
  • Mexican Americans
  • Schizophrenia / blood*
  • Schizophrenia / ethnology
  • Taiwan / ethnology
  • Texas
  • White People

Substances

  • Haloperidol