Dosing With Pravastatin

There are several factors that will help determine your dose of pravastatin. Your healthcare provider will prescribe your dosage based on your age, what you are being treated for, and other factors. The recommended starting dose for most adults is pravastatin 40 mg once daily. For children ages 8 to 13, the recommended dosage is 20 mg once a day, and for children ages 14 to 18, the suggested starting dose is 40 mg once a day.

Pravastatin Dosing: An Introduction

The dose of pravastatin your healthcare provider recommends will vary, depending on a number of factors, including:
 
As is always the case, do not adjust your dose unless your healthcare provider specifically tells you to do so.
 

Dose of Pravastatin for High Cholesterol

The recommended starting dosage of pravastatin for most people with
 high cholesterol is 40 mg once a day, taken at any time during the day.
 
After several weeks, your healthcare provider will recommend that you return to recheck your cholesterol levels. If you have not reached your cholesterol goal at this time, he or she may choose to increase your pravastatin dosage. The dose can also be decreased if pravastatin side effects occur. The maximum recommended daily dose is pravastatin 80 mg.
 
If you take cyclosporine (Gengraf®, Neoral®, Sandimmune®) or have significant kidney or liver disease, your healthcare provider may choose to start you on a lower dose, such as pravastatin 10 mg daily.
 
(Dosing With Pravastatin Continued: Page 2)
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;
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