Gabriela Nosáľová, Slavomír Nosáľ
From the perspective of pharmacotherapy, the process of development and growth in childhood represents unstable and dynamically changing of environmental conditions. The immaturity of the pediatric patient and the continuous state of development of body and organ function influence both drug effects and drug disposition. Age-related differences in drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics occur throughout chilhood and account for many of differences between drug doses at various stages of childhood. Therefore, children should not be considered as scaled down adults as the differences in dose are not purely dependent upon body mass. Processes controlling the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion are immature or altered in neonates and infants and this way can be influence final pharmacologic effects of drugs.