Geri PK Flashcards
What makes geriatrics a special population? (5)
- Health
- Changing demographics
- Epidemiology of drug use in the older adult
- Drug effects
- Available PK/PD information
What makes geriatrics a special patient population in terms of health? (4)
- Heterogenous population
- The aging process is unpredictable
- Multiple simultaneous disease states
- Chronic illness
What changing demographics make geriatrics special? (2)
- Population composition
- Institutionalization
How does epidemiology of drug use in the older adult make them special? (2)
- Polypharmacy
- Underuse of potentially beneficial therapy
How are drug effects special in geriatrics? (2)
- Drug related problems and adverse drug effects
- 3 to 10-fold greater ADRs in older adults vs. younger - Drug-drug and drug-disease interactions
What is special about geriatric ‘available PK/PD information’? (3)
- Evidence base for prescribing in older adults is limited
- Clinical studies not representative of older adult population
- Exclusion criteria (explicit and implicit)
Physiological changes with aging influences PK and PD. How so? (4)
- Age-related changes in organ function will alter drug PK and PD resulting in alterations in pharmacological response
- Physiological aging does not necessarily correspond to
chronological aging. - Age-related changes in-of-themselves are often not sufficient to compromise normal function. However, with underlying pathological conditions (e.g. HF, decreased renal function), such age-related changes may have significant consequences on PK/PD.
- Environment, genetics, and physiological and pathological factors additionally influence apparent age-related differences in ADME.
How do the following change with aging?
1. Total body water
2. Intracellular fluid volume
3. Lean body mass
4. Body fat
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Increase
How do the following change with aging?
1. Serum albumin
2. Serum alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AAG)
- No change or decrease (and possibly decreased affinity for binding)
- No change or increase (maybe 2° to underlying inflammatory disease)
How do the following change with aging?
1. Myocardial sensitivity to beta-adrenergic stimulation
2. Baroreceptor activity
- Decrease
- Decrease
How do the following change with aging?
1. Cardiac output
2. Resting heart rate
3. Systemic vascular resistance
4. Systolic blood pressure
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Increase
- Increase
How does the following change with aging?
1. Weight and volume of brain
2. Cerebral blood flow
3. Permeability of BBB
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Increase
How do the following change with aging?
1. Thyroid gland
2. Testosterone
3. Diabetes, thyroid disease
- Atrophy (menopause)
- Decrease
- Increased incidence
How do electrolyte abnormalities change with aging?
They increase
How do the following change with aging?
1. Gastric pH
2. Gastric emptying
- No change or sometimes increase
- Delayed
How do the following change with aging?
1. Splanchnic blood flow
2. Intestinal transit rate
3. Absorptive surface
4. Passive intestinal permeability
5. Active nutrient transport
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease (mucosal atrophy)
- No change
- Decrease
With age, incidence of urinary incontinence _________
increases
How does cell-mediated immunity change with aging?
Decreases
How do the following change with aging?
1. Liver size and # of hepatocytes
2. Liver blood flow
3. Oxidative and conjugative metabolism
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Unknown
How do the following change with aging?
1. Cartilage
2. Bone porosity
3. Bone density and mass
4. Muscle size and mass
5. Peripheral motor neurons
- Increase breakdown in joints
- Increase
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease
How does nutrition change with aging? (2)
- Possible protein energy malnutrition (hospitalized patients)
- Increased anorexia and micronutrient deficiencies
How do the following change with aging?
1. Respiratory muscle strength
2. Chest wall compliance
3. Total alveolar surface
4. Vital capacity
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease
How do the following change with aging?
1. GFR
2. Renal blood flow
3. Tubules (2 parter)
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Increase in tubular atrophy, and decrease in tubular secretory function (decreased urine concentrative ability)
How do the following change with aging?
1. Compensatory acid-base and electrolyte balance
2. Renal mass
3. Fibrosis
4. Arteriosclerosis
- Decrease
- Decrease (decreased functional nephrons)
- Increase
- Increase
How vision change with aging? (2)
- Decreased accommodation of the lens of the eye
- Decreased visual and auditory acuity
How do the following change with aging?
1. Dryness, wrinkling
2. Number of hair follicles and melanocytes
3. Epithelial and dermal thickness
- Increase
- Decrease
- Increase epithelial thinning and loss of dermal thickness
How do the following change with aging?
1. Wound healing
2. Thermoregulation
3. Vitamin D function
4. Photosensitivity
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Decrease
- Increase
Any factor that _______ systemic clearance (Cls) will cause an increase in Css, and may increase risk of ________
reduces; toxicity
What are 2 factors that influence half-life (think of the equation for t1/2)
- Vd
- Cls
How can toxicity in geriatrics be avoided?
Toxicity may be avoided by accounting for PK changes in the older adult and making the appropriate dosage adjustments (i.e. size of dose, dosage interval) when initiating therapy
How does GI absorption change with age? (2)
- Age-related changes may lead to impaired/delayed drug absorption as rate and/or extent of absorption is altered, but usually clinically irrelevant.
- GIT is a common site of distress in older adults, possibly due to changes in eating habits and elimination, alterations in nutrition, etc
In terms of GI absorption changes with aging, what happens with passive diffusion and bioavailability (F) related to that?
No change in either
In terms of GI absorption changes with aging, what happens with active transport and bioavailability (F) related to that?
May see decreased active transport (uptake) –> decreased F for some drugs
In terms of GI absorption changes with aging, what happens with first-pass effect and bioavailability (F) related to that?
May see decreased first-pass effect –> increased F for high extraction ratio drugs
In terms of GI absorption changes with aging, what happens with intestinal first pass?
Unknown intestinal first-pass, but polypharmacy and diet changes will alter food-drug and drug-drug interaction potential