Trimethoprim warnings and precautions

# Warnings And Precautions

## WARNINGS
Experience with trimethoprim alone is limited, but it has been reported rarely to interfere with hematopoiesis, especially when administered in large doses and/or for prolonged periods.
The presence of clinical signs such as sore throat, fever, pallor or purpura may be early indications of serious blood disorders.

## PRECAUTIONS

### General
Trimethoprim should be given with caution to patients with possible folate deficiency. Folates may be administered concomitantly without interfering with the antibacterial action of trimethoprim. Trimethoprim should also be given with caution to patients with impaired renal or hepatic function. If any clinical signs of a blood disorder are noted in a patient receiving trimethoprim, a complete blood count should be obtained and the drug discontinued if a significant reduction in the count of any formed blood element is found.

### Drug Interactions
PRIMSOL may inhibit the hepatic metabolism of phenytoin. Trimethoprim, given at a common clinical dosage, increased the phenytoin half-life by 51% and decreased the phenytoin metabolic clearance rate by 30%. When administering these drugs concurrently, one should be alert for possible excessive phenytoin effect.

### Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions
Trimethoprim can interfere with a serum methotrexate assay as determined by the competitive binding protein technique (CBPA) when a bacterial dihydrofolate reductase is used as the binding protein. No interference occurs, however, if methotrexate is measured by a radioimmunoassay (RIA).
The presence of trimethoprim may also interfere with the Jaffe alkaline picrate reaction assay for creatinine resulting in overestimations of about 10% in the range of normal values.

### Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Long-term studies in animals to evaluate carcinogenic potential have not been conducted with trimethoprim. Trimethoprim was demonstrated to be non-mutagenic in the Ames assay. No chromosomal damage was observed in human leukocytes cultured in vitro with trimethoprim; the concentration used exceeded blood levels following therapy with PRIMSOL. No adverse effects on fertility or general reproductive performance were observed in rats given trimethoprim in oral dosages as high as 70 mg/kg/day for males and 14 mg/kg/day for females.

### Pregnancy
Teratogenic Effects
Pregnancy Category C
Trimethoprim has been shown to be teratogenic in the rat when given in doses 40 times the human dose. In some rabbit studies, the overall increase in fetal loss (dead and resorbed and malformed conceptuses) was associated with doses 6 times the human therapeutic dose.
While there are no large well-controlled studies on the use of trimethoprim in pregnant women, Brumfitt and Pursell,3 in a retrospective study, reported the outcome of 186 pregnancies during which the mother received either placebo or trimethoprim in combination with sulfamethoxazole. The incidence of congenital abnormalities was 4.5% (3 of 66) in those who received placebo and 3.3% (4 of 120) in those receiving trimethoprim plus sulfamethoxazole.
There were no abnormalities in the 10 children whose mothers received the drug during the first trimester. In a separate survey, Brumfitt and Pursell also found no congenital abnormalities in 35 children whose mothers had received trimethoprim plus sulfamethoxazole at the time of conception or shortly thereafter.
Because trimethoprim may interfere with folic acid metabolism, PRIMSOL should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus.

### Nonteratogenic Effects
The oral administration of trimethoprim to rats at a dose of 70 mg/kg/day commencing with the last third of gestation and continuing through parturition and lactation caused no deleterious effects on gestation or pup growth and survival.

### Nursing Mothers
Trimethoprim is excreted in human milk. Because trimethoprim may interfere with folic acid metabolism, caution should be exercised when PRIMSOL is administered to a nursing woman.

### Pediatric Use
The safety of trimethoprim has not been established in pediatric patients below the age of 2 months. The effectiveness of trimethoprim in the treatment of acute otitis media has not been established in patients below the age of 6 months.