{"id":217736,"date":"2025-05-22T12:16:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=217736"},"modified":"2025-05-22T12:16:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:16:53","slug":"a-16-year-old-male-high-school-football-player-takes-800-mg-of-ibuprofen-after-morning-practice-for-a-sore-knee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/22\/a-16-year-old-male-high-school-football-player-takes-800-mg-of-ibuprofen-after-morning-practice-for-a-sore-knee\/","title":{"rendered":"A 16-year-old male high school football player takes 800 mg of ibuprofen after morning practice for a sore knee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 16-year-old male high school football player takes 800 mg of ibuprofen after morning practice for a sore knee. Ibuprofen has a half-life of about 2 h. What percentage of the original plasma load of ibuprofen will remain in his blood when afternoon practice starts in 4 h? (A) 0% (B) 12.5% (C) 25% (D) 50% (E) 75%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is (C) 25%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ibuprofen is a drug that follows first-order kinetics, meaning that the rate at which it is eliminated from the body is proportional to the concentration remaining. The key concept here is the half-life<\/strong> of the drug, which is the time it takes for the plasma concentration of the drug to reduce to half of its original amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Given:<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Half-life (t\u2081\/\u2082) of ibuprofen = 2 hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Time elapsed since ingestion = 4 hours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Because the half-life is 2 hours, every 2 hours, the plasma concentration of ibuprofen will reduce by 50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. After the first 2 hours:<\/strong>
      The plasma level decreases from 100% to 50%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. After the next 2 hours (total 4 hours):<\/strong>
      The plasma level again reduces by half, from 50% to 25%.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Thus, after 4 hours (two half-lives), only 25% of the original ibuprofen remains in the bloodstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      Why this matters:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Understanding drug half-life is important for several reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Dosage timing:<\/strong> Knowing how long a drug stays active helps in determining how often a drug should be administered to maintain therapeutic levels without toxicity or subtherapeutic effects.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Effectiveness and safety:<\/strong> If a drug is taken too frequently, it may accumulate and cause side effects; if taken too infrequently, the therapeutic effect may be lost.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Drug clearance:<\/strong> Half-life is influenced by how quickly the liver metabolizes the drug and the kidneys excrete it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n

        Additional points:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • This calculation assumes normal metabolism and excretion in a healthy 16-year-old.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • If the half-life were different, the remaining percentage after 4 hours would change accordingly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • After 3 half-lives (6 hours), only 12.5% would remain; after 4 half-lives (8 hours), 6.25% would remain, and so forth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n

          Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          After 4 hours (two half-lives) since taking ibuprofen, the plasma concentration will be halved twice, resulting in 25% of the original dose remaining. Therefore, the correct choice is (C) 25%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          A 16-year-old male high school football player takes 800 mg of ibuprofen after morning practice for a sore knee. Ibuprofen has a half-life of about 2 h. What percentage of the original plasma load of ibuprofen will remain in his blood when afternoon practice starts in 4 h? (A) 0% (B) 12.5% (C) 25% (D) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}