Young's Rule
(For 1yr – 12yr of age)
Young’s Rule is an equation used to calculate pediatric medication dosage based on the patient’s age and the known recommended adult dose. The definition of Young’s Rule is the age of the patient, divided by the age added to twelve, all multiplied by the recommended adult dose. This formula based Calculator appears below
Age / (Age + 12)] x Adult Dose = Pediatric Dose
Example:
A seven year old pediatric patient is admitted to hospital. The dispenser is tasked with determining what dose of the medicine prescribed by the physician. If the adult dose is 100mg and the child weighs forty kilogram, what dose should the child is administered by using young’s rule?
Answer:
Child dosage=7yrs/7yrs+12yrs*100mg=7yrs/19yrs*100mg =37mg of medicine
Formula:
Age / (Age + 12)] x Adult Dose = Pediatric Dose
Young’s Rule can be applied to quickly approach a situation in which the patient’s weight is unknown.
General Tips:
- Check that your answer makes sense clinically.
- Triple check your work.
- Have a colleague or pharmacist check your work.
- Know general therapeutic drug doses for commonly administered medications.