If the proper dosage of a drug is 2 mg/kg of body weight, how many milligrams would a 110-lb individual need?

1 Answer
Stefan V.
Mar 4, 2015

Your patient needs "100 mg".

SInce your drug's dose is expressed in mg per kg, you'll need to convert it to mg per pound first, and then determine how much a 110-lbs patient would need.

2 "mg"/"kg" * "1 kg"/"2.20462 lbs" = "0.9072 mg/lbs"

then

"110 lbs" * 0.9072"mg"/"lbs" = "99.8 mg"

Rounded to one sig fig, the number of sig figs in 2 mg, the answer will be

m_("drug") = "100 mg"

You can do this in one longer step as well

2 "mg"/"kg" * "1 kg"/"2.20462 lbs" * "110 lbs" = "100 mg"

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