We retrospectively identified 67 patients with severe or morbid obesity (body mass index ≥35 kg/m(2)) who had received intravenous vancomycin at our institution. We observed that an initial dose of 45 to 65 mg/kg vancomycin per day based upon ideal body weight rather than actual body weight was more predictive of initial trough concentrations between 15 and 20 mcg/mL.
Keywords: obese; pharmacokinetics; vancomycin.