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Sex, age, and genetics in anesthesia
1University Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. l.booij@owi.umcn.nl
Purpose Of Review:
Pharmacology is one of the corner stones of anesthesia. Outcome of anesthesia is related, in part, to both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of anesthetic drugs. Recent developments have indicated that among individuals, major differences exist in pharmacological effects. In this regard, sex, age, and genetic profile are increasingly considered to be of importance.
Recent Findings:
For a number of anesthetic drugs, it has been demonstrated that sex differences influence their effects and thus can alter the outcome of anesthesia. Also other genetically determined differences than sex are important.
Summary:
In the future, it is expected that an individual's pharmacological needs will be based on age, sex, and genomics.
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