Evaluation of Weight Uniformity of Splitted Tablet

Tablet-splitting is a widespread practice among all sectors of health care for different reasons: it increases dose flexibility, makes tablet parts easier to swallow and allows cost savings for both patients and healthcare providers. However, the tablet parts obtained are often not equal in size, and a substantial amount of tablet can be lost during splitting. This paper is a report of a study conducted to quantify the mean deviation from theoretical weight and the mean weight loss, of three different tablet preparations commonly used to manage hypertension. The tablets were Verapamil Hydrochloride 80mg, Metoprolol Tartrate 50mg and Atenolol 50mg. A volunteer was used in the study to split 30 randomly selected tablet of each of the preparation using two different routine methods; manual splitting and with a kitchen knife. Before and after splitting, tablets and tablet parts were weighed using an analytical balance. All the methods showed significant deviation of weight than the theoretical. Large dose deviations or weight losses can occur while splitting tablets which could have serious clinical consequences for medications with a narrow therapeutic-toxic range. On the basis of the results in this report, we recommend use of a splitting device when splitting cannot be avoided.