The threshold for thermoregulatory vasoconstriction during nitrous oxide/sevoflurane anesthesia is reduced in the elderly.

Elderly patients become more hypothermic during surgery, shiver less postoperatively, and take longer to rewarm than younger patients. Similarly, the vasoconstriction threshold (triggering core temperature) is reduced approximately 1 degree C in elderly patients during nitrous oxide/isoflurane anesthesia. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that the vasoconstriction threshold in the elderly is also reduced approximately 1 degree C during nitrous oxide and sevoflurane anesthesia. Eleven young patients aged 30-50 yr and 14 elderly patients aged 60-80 yr were anesthetized with nitrous oxide (50%) and sevoflurane (1%). Mean skin temperature was calculated from four sites. Fingertip blood flow was estimated using forearm minus fingertip skin-temperature gradients, with a gradient of 0 degree C identifying onset of vasoconstriction. The distal esophageal temperature triggering onset of vasoconstriction identified the threshold for this thermoregulatory defense. The data from five patients who did not vasoconstrict at minimum core temperatures of 33-34 degrees C were eliminated, leaving 10 patients in each group. The vasoconstriction threshold was significantly less in the elderly (35.0 +/- 0.8 degrees C) than in younger patients (35.8 +/- 0.3 degrees C), despite similar mean skin temperatures (mean +/- SD, P < 0.01, Student's t-test). Age dependence of thermoregulatory vasoconstriction during nitrous oxide/sevoflurane anesthesia is similar to that previously observed during nitrous oxide/isoflurane anesthesia.