Gerontology/Geriatrics Topic Homepage
Gerontology/Geriatrics Overview
Gerontology is the science of human aging1, its implications and its involvement in the broadest sense. Its purpose is to study the modalities and the causes of the changes that age imparts to the functioning of living beings, on all levels (biological, psychological and social) and at all levels of complexity (molecule, cell, organ, organism and population). It is a meeting point of multiple disciplines.
Geriatrics is...
... the branch of medicine that specialises in the care of older people.1 A number of disorders occur almost exclusively in these patients. Osteoporosis is a prevalent disease, affecting mainly postmenopausal women and is characterised by bone loss.1 Complications, such as fractures occurring from minor trauma (jarring movement, small falls) can lead to a degradation of quality of life, sometimes transitory but often definitive.2
Other disorders that affect people of all ages may cause different symptoms or complications in older people, for example; depression usually causes younger adults to become tearful, withdrawn, and noticeably unhappy.1 In older people, depression sometimes causes confusion, loss of memory, and apathy without a sense of sadness.1 Polypathology (co-existence of several chronic diseases in the same individual) is also common and therefore an understanding of polypharmacy (chronic consumption of more than four different drugs) is important.3
Other disorders that affect people of all ages may cause different symptoms or complications in older people, for example; depression usually causes younger adults to become tearful, withdrawn, and noticeably unhappy.1 In older people, depression sometimes causes confusion, loss of memory, and apathy without a sense of sadness.1 Polypathology (co-existence of several chronic diseases in the same individual) is also common and therefore an understanding of polypharmacy (chronic consumption of more than four different drugs) is important.3
Geriatric medicine is not specifically defined by the age (of patients cared for), but must deal with the specific disease of the elderly. Most patients are over 65 years, but major challenges within geriatric medicine occur, particularly in terms of those patients who are 80 years and above.
1. Beers M. H. et al. The Merck manual of medical information. Merck research laboratories. Second home edition. 2003 ;, 16-21.
2. van Balen R. et al. Hip Fracture in Elderly Patients: Outcomes for Function, Quality of Life, and Type of Residence. Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research. September 2001 ; 390 : 232-243.
3. Crome P. What's different about older people ? Toxicology. October 2003 ; 192 (1) : 49-54.
Content on this page
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only
Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease which will affect most of us at one point in time, and it’s prevalence increases with age.
In the early stages in particular, dementia is often difficult to diagnose, since many symptoms are not recognized as such or are trivialized by the patient. 20% of actual dementia cases are reported to be incorrectly diagnosed as a different disease.
In early dementia the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include memory loss, disorientation and confusion. These symptoms are caused by the loss of neurons and worsen with continuous neurodegeneration. The pathology of dementia is not solely the result of a cholinergic deficit. It is known that, chronically and pathologically elevated glutamate concentrations play an important role.
In general two main groups of dementia can be distinguished, requiring different types of treatment:
Depending on the stage of the disease, clinical symptoms of varying intensity dominate. With the progression of AD, treatment is aimed particularly at improving and stabilizing personal everyday functions, so as to keep patients independent for as long as possible.
Anti-Infectives Knowledge Centre
The last decade has seen an increase in the incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), making it one of the most talked about disease topics with many recent congresses focusing on the disease.
As the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhoea in industrialised countries1 detection and treatment of CDI is extremely important. The ESCMID guidelines recommend that diagnosis is based upon both signs and symptoms and laboratory evidence of toxin producing C. difficile in stools.1,2 In addition antibiotic treatment to eradicate severe C. difficle infection is recommended in these guidelines.2
The management of systemic fungal infections is also a major challenge for healthcare professionals. Due to the invasive nature of fungal infections, many treatments are pre-emptive and are therefore initiated without identifying the specific fungus involved. Targeted approaches will become a more viable option as the speed and delivery of diagnostic methods improve.
The Anti-infectives Knowledge Centre aims to provide you with the most recent information in the areas of both CDI and systemic fungal infections with regularly updated content to help assist in the fight against these diseases.
The Knowledge Centre currently provides information on CDI, including:
- Prevalence – the incidence of CDI and the factors that have been attributed to the rise in these infections
- Symptoms – the symptoms of CDI, including how pseudomembranous colitis manifests
- Recurrence – the impact of recurring infection on patient outcomes
- Diagnosis – the importance of early diagnosis and the diagnostic tests available
- Treatment – treatment options recommended by the current ESCMID guidelines
Additional information on systemic fungal infections will be added soon.
Enter the Anti-infectives Knowledge Centre
References
1. Crobach MJ, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009; 15: 1053‐1066
2. Bauer MP, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009; 15: 1067‐1079
Date of preparation November 2012 AI/12/0038/EUc
Drug News
Immunoglobulin (Baxter) fails Phase III study for treatment of Alzheimers disease
08-05-2013
Baxter International Inc. has announced that its Phase III clinical study of immunoglobulin (IG) did not meet its co-primary endpoints of reducing cognitive decline and preserving functional abilities in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The Gammaglobulin Alzheimer's Partnership (GAP) study was conducted by Baxter in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative...
Phase II study of CERE 120 (Ceregene) for Parkinsons fails to reach primary endpoint
21-04-2013Top-line data from a double-blind, randomized, controlled Phase IIb clinical study of CERE 120 (AAV-neurturin), from Ceregene, for Parkinson's disease failed to demonstrate statistically significant efficacy on its primary endpoint. Fifty-one patients with moderately advanced Parkinson's disease which could not be controlled with conventional medication were enrolled. Approximately half...
Lundbeck and Otsuka collaborate on Lu AE 58054 as a treatment for Alzheimers disease
28-03-2013Lundbeck A/S and Otsuka Pharmaceutical company have announced a license and development agreement for Lu AE 58054, for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Lundbeck will grant Otsuka co-development and co-commercialization rights to Lu AE58054 in the U.S., Canada, East Asia including Japan, major European countries and Nordic countries.
The pivotal...
Gerontology/Geriatrics Drug Data - A-Z
Possible searches include drugs or medicines (by brand, generic ingredient or drug class), diseases, conditions and more.
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only
Recent Drug Updates
Micolette Micro-enema
01-11-2012Micolette is indicated whenever an enema is necessary for chronic and acute constipation in the rectum and sigmoid colon. Also indicated for use in constipation in geriatrics, pediatrics and...
MICRALAX
03-06-2009Micralax is indicated whenever an enema is necessary to relieve constipation: in dyschezia, especially in bedridden patients; in geriatrics, paediatrics and obstetrics; and in preparation for X-ray...
Clinical Guidelines
British Association of Dermatologists’ guidelines for the management of bullous pemphigoid 2012
Sep 2012The overall objective of the guideline is to provide up-to-date, evidence-based recommendations for..
... the management of bullous pemphigoid (BP).
BP is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease that typically affects the elderly but may rarely present in children and younger adults. Autoantibodies of IgG type (and less commonly IgA, IgM and IgE) attack components of the adhesion complex of the basement membrane zone (BMZ) and result in subepidermal blistering.
Early (uncomplicated) Parkinson’s disease
Jan 2011This chapter provides these scientifi cally supported treatment recommendations.
Online CME
Urology & Sexual Health In Primary Care: An Update On PSA & Prostate Cancer Screening
Apr 2013
... including PSA requests, dealing with referrals and case studies.
The Basics - Polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis
Apr 2013
... rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.
Clinical Trials
Bone Healing in Healthy and Post-menopausal Osteoporotic Women
26-03-2013Both the pathogenesis and the treatment of osteoporosis may potentially interfere at different levels on the multi-stage complex cascade of events involved in bone healing/regeneration. To our knowledge no human studies have been performed to clarify the potential effect of osteoporosis on post-extraction alveolar..
... healing. The primary outcome of the study is to compare alveolar bone changes in width and height 3 months after tooth extraction in 15 post-menopausal osteoporotic women and 15 healthy pre or post menopausal women by the use of cone-beam computer tomography (CBCT) images. As secondary outcome the investigators put: changes in the external contour of the ridge together with periodontal parameters in the neighbouring teeth, tissue blood perfusion changes during the initial healing (assessed by laser doppler flowmetry) and levels of serum bone resorption/formation markers.
Sensory Support Care for Elderly Patients Suffering From Alzheimer'S-type Neurodegenerative Disease (SensiCare)
25-03-2013The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of 3 months of "Snoezelen-type" multi-sensory care sessions on NeuroPsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) scores for patients with Alzheimer's-type neurodegenerative disease.
Medical Videos
Medical Journal Abstracts
Short Form 36-Item Health Survey test result on the empty nest elderly in China: A meta-analysis
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
Nov 2012
The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of the empty nest elderly in China using meta-analytic techniques. Electronic databases were searched for studies concerning the quality of life of the empty nest elderly published before December 2011. Pooled weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence..
Determinants of emergency medical utilization among the elderly population in Taiwan: A national longitudinal cohort study
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
Nov 2012
The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential determinants for emergency medical utilization by elderly patients in Taiwan. The data were drawn from the ‘Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan’, a population-based, longitudinal study of a nationally representative random sample of older..
Medical Apps
Geriatric - £1.49
GeriPal - Free
Geriatric depression scale - Free
Social Media
How old would you define an elderly person?
on doc2doc... individual? Is it unfair to call all 65+ elderly?WHO says that generally speaking it is someone who is over 65 years old, but in Africa could be as ...
To vitamin D or not to D? That is the question!
on doc2doc... incidence of VitD insufficiency, overall about 40% and in Bangkok, 65%! Authos commented that being young, female and an urban environment ...
Frailty. Is it an important clinical syndrome?
on doc2doc... even very frail patients and also has a clear link to the biology of aging in histologic studies. No other tool has both characteristics and so ...
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only