Geriatrics

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HEALTH

What is Geriatrics?

Geriatrics is a branch of medicine that is concerned with the clinical, preventive, medical and social aspects of illness in the elderly.

What is so different about the health problem of the elderly as compared to the younger age group?

In the elderly, the illness itself does not present itself in a typical way. This leads to problems in treating the disease.

In the elderly, a confused state of mind is very common with most illnesses.

The patients themselves are sometimes unaware of their health problems, for eg; A silent heart attack.

Most illnesses in the elderly present as mulitple problems than as a single disease, For eg: A person suffering from Arthritis may also have Diabetes, Cataract and Depression.

The ageing process results in some changes which are normal in this age group and they need not be treated actively.

Treatment maybe complicated because of the multiple drugs given to combat more than one problem, their side effects and drug interactions.

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