Monitoring and anticipating changes in temperature due to medication(s)

by Ashley Russell

 

Submitted : Spring 2022

Body temperature is a measure of how well the body can produce and expel heat. It is a balance of the hypothalamic set point which coordinates and controls body temperature along with other autonomic nervous system functions. Common medications used for controlling blood pressure, antihistamines, decongestants, and psychiatric drugs may affect body temperature. Drugs influence body temperature through a variety of processes. When the body's thermoregulatory set point has been elevated by endogenous or external pyrogens, antipyretics lower body temperature. Antipyretics are substances used to intentionally lower body temperature, for example, in cases of fever. Calculating this change and potentially anticipating it can be done utilizing differential equations. In order to measure concentration, absorption, and elimination of a drug from the body, differential equations are also needed. By applying these equations to each specific biological process, it can be estimated with high certainty what effect the drug will have over time in respect to each process, and provided with the drugs chemical properties, concentration, dosage, and the patients anatomy.  

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