Development of a Web Application for Simulating Plasma Drug Concentrations in Patients with Zolpidem Intoxication

TL;DR

This paper describes a web app that simulates zolpidem levels in blood to help doctors manage overdose cases.

Contribution

A user-friendly web application was developed using a population pharmacokinetic model for zolpidem.

Findings

A one-compartment PK model was developed with parameters like CL (16.9 L/h), Ka (5.41 h−1), and Vd (61.7 L).

The web app allows simulation and visualization of zolpidem plasma concentrations for clinical use.

The tool is intended to assist physicians in managing patients with zolpidem intoxication.

Abstract

Zolpidem is a widely prescribed hypnotic Z-drug used to treat short-term insomnia. However, a growing number of individuals intentionally overdose on these drugs. This study aimed to develop a predictive tool for physicians to assess patients with zolpidem overdose. A population pharmacokinetic (PK) model was established using digitized data obtained from twenty-three healthy volunteers after a single oral administration of zolpidem. Based on the final PK model, a web application was developed using open-source R packages such as rxode2, nonmem2rx, and shiny. The final model was a one-compartment model with first-order absorption and elimination with PK parameters, including clearance (CL, 16.9 L/h), absorption rate constant (Ka, 5.41 h−1), volume of distribution (Vd, 61.7 L), and lag time (ALAG, 0.394 h). Using the established population PK model in the current study, we developed a web application that enables users to simulate plasma zolpidem concentrations and visualize their profiles. This user-friendly web application may provide essential clinical information to physicians, ultimately helping in the management of patients with zolpidem intoxication.

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