Drugs Chapter 9 Drugs and Aging Because elderly people are more likely to have chronic diseases, they take more medications than younger adults. Elderly people are more than twice as susceptible to adverse drug reactions as younger adults.
Reactions are also likely to be more severe.
Acetylcholine is one of the body's many neurotransmitters. A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that nerve cells use to communicate with each other, with muscles, and with many glands. Drugs that block the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine are said to have anticholinergic effects. Elderly people are particularly sensitive to drugs with anticholinergic effects because the amount of acetylcholine in the body decreases with age and because their bodies are less able to use what's there. Drugs that have anticholinergic effects can cause confusion, blurred vision, constipation, dry mouth, light-headedness, and difficulty with urination or loss of bladder control.