In: Nursing
Do drugs used to treat hypertension (antihypertensives) elicit a quantal or graded drug response? Why? What about drugs used to treat malaria, and why?
ANSWER :
** Response of a drug is described as the magnitude of the effect of drug in relation to the dose.
There are two types of drug response.
A) Graded drug response - Means the drug response is increased as the drug dose or concentration is increased.
B) Quantal drug response- This is mainly the percentage of individuals responders or fraction of population that shows specific response at a progressively increasing dose.Quantal drug response is useful in determining doses to which most of the population respond.
* **Drugs used to treat hypertension ( antihypertensives) elicit graded drug response.
* The response of Antihypertensive drugs are measured in terms of reduction in blood pressure, depends on personal difference and underlying cause the dose can change in each individual. The same concentration maynot make same response in different people.
*** Drugs used to treat malaria elict quantal response.
* Here the response is measured in terms of response of population or the fraction of population responded effectively to a particular dose.
* Malaria is treated with same dose of antimalarial drug for specific age group.