Everyone responds to drugs differently. The way a person responds to a drug is affected by many factors, including
Age
Body size
Use of other drugs and dietary supplements (such as medicinal herbs Overview of Dietary Supplements Dietary supplements are used by about 75% of Americans. They are the most common therapies included among integrative medicine and health (IMH) and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)... read more )
Consumption of food (including beverages)
Presence of diseases (such as kidney or liver disease)
Storage of the drug (whether the drug was stored too long or in the wrong environment)
Whether people take a drug as instructed (adherence Adherence to Drug Treatment Adherence is the degree to which a person takes prescribed drugs as directed. (See also Overview of Response to Drugs.) Adherence to (compliance with) drug treatment is important. However, only... read more ) also affects their response to it. These factors may affect how the body absorbs the drug Drug Absorption Drug absorption is the movement of a drug into the bloodstream after administration. (See also Introduction to Administration and Kinetics of Drugs.) Absorption affects bioavailability—how quickly... read more , how the body breaks down (metabolizes Drug Metabolism Drug metabolism is the chemical alteration of a drug by the body. (See also Introduction to Administration and Kinetics of Drugs.) Some drugs are chemically altered by the body (metabolized)... read more ) and eliminates the drug Drug Elimination Drug elimination is the removal of drugs from the body. (See also Introduction to Administration and Kinetics of Drugs.) All drugs are eventually eliminated from the body. They may be eliminated... read more , or what effects the drug has on the body.
Because so many factors affect drug response, doctors must choose a drug appropriate for each person and must adjust the dose carefully. This process is more complex if the person takes other drugs and has other diseases, because drug-drug and drug-disease interactions are possible.
A standard or average dose is determined for every new drug. But the concept of an average dose can be like "one size fits all" in clothing: It may fit a range of people well enough, but it may fit almost no one perfectly. For some drugs, however, the dose does not have to be adjusted, because the same dose works well in virtually everyone.
Effects of age on drug response
Infants and older people particularly have problems with drug response. Their liver and kidneys function less effectively, so drugs that are broken down by the liver or excreted by the kidneys tend to accumulate, thus potentially causing problems.
Older people typically have more disorders than children and younger adults and thus usually take more drugs (see Aging and Drugs Aging and Medications ). The more drugs people take, the more likely they are to have problems caused by one drug interfering with another drug or disease. With aging, people also may have more difficulty following complicated instructions for taking drugs, such as to take the drug at very specific times or to avoid certain foods.
Many Factors Affect Drug Response
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