The Study
Short sirolimus half‐life in pediatric renal transplant recipients on a calcineurin inhibitor‐free protocol
This study is like taking a snapshot of 13 kids who got a certain medicine after a kidney transplant. It tells us what happened to their medicine levels, but it doesn’t compare them to other kids or prove that the medicine caused any specific result.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Doctors gave a drug called sirolimus to kids after kidney transplants and checked how long it stayed in their bodies. They found it leaves faster in kids than in adults, so they might need to take it more often.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 536 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes, this matters because if the drug leaves quickly, kids may need more frequent doses to stay protected from organ rejection.
- 2Sirolimus stayed in the body for about 10.8 hours at first and 12.1 hours later.
- 3The medicine level in the blood before the next dose showed well how much medicine the body got overall (r² = 0.84).
- 4The other medicine (mycophenolic acid) didn’t change how sirolimus worked (r² = 0.04).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Pediatric Transplantation
Year
2004
Authors
A. Schachter, A. Schachter, K. Meyers, Leslie Spaneas, J. Palmer, M. Salmanullah, J. Baluarte, K. Brayman, W. Harmon
Related Content
Claims (4)
Sirolimus stays in your body for a long time—about 2.5 days—so even if you take it just once a week, it might still be active when you work out again.
In kids who got a kidney transplant and are on a certain anti-rejection drug combo, taking more or less of one drug (mycophenolic acid) doesn’t change how the body handles another drug (sirolimus).
Kids who got a kidney transplant and are taking a drug called sirolimus clear it from their bodies faster than adults do, especially in the first few months after surgery.
For kids who've had a kidney transplant and are taking a drug called sirolimus (but not certain other drugs), checking the lowest level of the drug in their blood helps doctors figure out how much of the drug their body is getting overall.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.