Prediction of optimal lithium doses for Taiwanese psychiatric patients

Summary Background: Standard dosing regimens with lithium usually require significant time before the optimal serum concentration is achieved. Method: The present study compares a new method (Method 1) with two existing ones (Methods 2 and 3) for dosing of individual patients with lithium, to more rapidly achieve optimum concentrations. Thirty patients, who were on lithium therapy and who met the inclusion criteria, were evaluated. Results: The correlation coefficient between true and expected concentrations were 0·518 (P