Elderly individuals are prone to hypothermia when stressed by modestly cold environments that would not affect younger individuals.
Aging has a variable effect on vasoconstriction and shivering, with some elderly people demonstrating responses identical to young subjects and others demonstrating a near-absent response. Overall vasoconstriction and metabolic heat production are diminished in magnitude in elderly individuals.
The increased risk of intraoperative hypothermia in elderly patients owing to effective vasoconstriction is compounded by decreased basal metabolism (heat production) in elderly patients. (Hypothermia has been observed more frequently in older patients than in their younger counterparts.)
The risks of hypothermia include myocardial ischemia, surgical wound infection, coagulopathy with increased blood loss, and impaired drug metabolism.