Digoxin therapy is monitored to ensure therapeutic levels in patients with what health issue?

Digoxin therapy is primarily monitored to ensure therapeutic levels in patients with heart rhythm problems. Digoxin is a medication that is often prescribed to treat heart failure and certain types of arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation. In these conditions, maintaining the correct level of digoxin in the bloodstream is crucial because it helps to control heart rate and improve the efficiency of the heart contractions.

Monitoring digoxin levels is important to avoid toxicity, as the therapeutic range for digoxin is narrow, meaning that levels can easily rise above the therapeutic range into a toxic range, especially if there are changes in kidney function or interactions with other medications. Therefore, regular monitoring is essential for patients with heart rhythm problems to ensure safety and effectiveness of the therapy.

In contrast, hypertension (high blood pressure) and high cholesterol are generally managed with different classes of medications, and psoriasis is a skin condition that does not typically require digoxin. These conditions do not benefit from the cardiac effects provided by digoxin.