Salicylate, pharmacokinetics, and the pediatrician

Clinicians may, at first glance, wonder why the paper in this issue by Levy and Yaffe1 on the volume of distribution of salicylate in children should concern them or, indeed, why it even appears in their journal. This important and excellent study is a prime example of the growing influence and involvement of clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics in medicine generally and pediatrics particularly. Already substantial, with the growing complexity of pediatric therapeutics, this relationship stands to become even more widespread and intense as a result of increasing emphasis on more and better pediatric drug studies. Evolving ethical-legal constraints notwithstanding,2 these must and will expand.