Final answer:
Nitrates used in treating chronic angina can lead to adverse effects such as headache, flushing, hypotension, and dizziness due to their vasodilatory action.
Step-by-step explanation:
The adverse effects of nitrates in the treatment of chronic angina can include headache, flushing, hypotension (low blood pressure), and dizziness. These side effects arise because nitrates work as vasodilators, relaxing and widening blood vessels to improve blood flow. While this action reduces the strain on the heart and alleviates the symptoms of angina, the same mechanism can lead to systemic vasodilation, which may cause the observed adverse effects.
Specifically, headaches can result from the increased blood flow to the brain, flushing is due to the dilation of blood vessels near the skin, hypotension arises from the overall drop in blood pressure due to expanded blood vessel capacity, and dizziness may occur as a consequence of reduced blood flow to the brain caused by the lowering of systemic blood pressure.