Estimating the Dose of A Cardiac Glycoside for Human Subjects

1. An analysis of measurements on the threshold dose of digitoxin in human subjects shows no more tolerance to the drug in children than in adults. Any appearance of greater sensitivity in adults is due to adjusting differences in size by proportioning the dose directly to the body weight. 2. The threshold dose increases approximately as the square root of the body weight in both males and females. The dose can be predicted in this simple form because height and age are themselves without effect. 3. In this study, males proved to be somewhat more tolerant than females, requiring on the average 27 per cent more digitoxin.