Saliva Versus Blood Sampling for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Children

Abstract

The objective of this study was to conduct an assessment of patient and parental preferences and an economic analysis of hospital costs in sampling blood and saliva for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Costs and preferences were evaluated in the course of a study, which compared anticonvul-sant concentrations in blood routinely drawn for therapeutic monitoring and in saliva in infants and children attending a pediatric neurology clinic. Parents of 84.8% of children, and half of the children, indicated a preference for saliva sampling over venous blood drawing. Children who had been on medications that required therapeutic monitoring for