Academic Master

Health Care

Hypertension disease Essay

According to Angelo and Peterson (2013), Hypertension is a chronic disease affecting about 33% of the adults in the United States. On the other hand, Hyperlipidemia is a disorder featured by the elevation of cholesterol levels in the blood (American Heart Association, 2015). Research shows that a combination of hyperlipidemia and hypertension coupled with other comorbidities increases the rate of mortality and morbidity. The patient selected in this case has a history of atrial fibrillation and transient ischemic attack. The paper analyzes the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of medication which is crucial for safe and quality healthcare.

Age

Age is one of the factors which influences the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs. As a result, when prescribing medications, the health professionals always factor in a combination of several aspects age being one of them. Older people experiences impairments in several organs of the body such as hepatic and renal parts which are extremely important in the cleansing and absorption of regimes (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2013). There is delay and impairments in the absorption of orally administered drugs in old age. Furthermore, the volume of distribution of the majority of the drugs decreases with age and as time goes on the distribution shifts towards greater drug accumulation in the fat stores.

Impacts of the Changes on the Patient’s Drug Therapy

The aging process has corresponding effects on various biological mechanisms. Some of these biological processes include an increase in lipid peroxidation, alterations in gene expression, cell apoptosis upregulation, mitochondrial damage, and damage to nuclear DNA arising from an increase in oxidative stress among others. The alterations in organ functioning and body composition alter both the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs. Therefore, older patients are prescribed to take a lower drug dosage as compared to younger patients because health specialists are always concerned about multiple comorbidities, and the elimination process in the body.

How to Improve the Patient’s Drug Therapy

There are various changes to improve the patient’s drug therapy plan. For instance, in treating type 2 diabetes, the patients should stop using Glyburide 10 mg BID and try Glipizide 10mg instead. Lisinopril may also potentiate Glipizide. Besides, the Atenolol 100 mg QD therapy for hypertension should be stopped and the patient should consider changing to ACE Inhibitor. The H.M should mainly stop using the Atenolol because it is a cardio-selective beta blocker. The process of blocking the beta 1 masks the flight response which leads to masking of hypoglycemia symptoms such as tachycardia hence affecting the control of diabetes (Reese & Peterson, 2013). The current therapy has no treatment for hyperlipidemia and thus the patient should use a statin drug such as Simvastatin to treat the condition.

 

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