[Geriatric medicine. Current status and perspectives for the future]

Abstract

Geriatric medicine is one of the most rapidly growing medical subspecialties as a response to demographic changes seen in all western societies. One of the main problems of all aging populations is the increase in incidence and severity of comorbidities. Three epidemiological types of (co)morbidities can be identified: (1) Cardiac and vascular diseases including risk factors like diabetes mellitus, (2) malignancies of the elderly and (3) cognitive impairments defined as dementia. These epidemiologic-medical classes need different strategies. The first morbidity type is addressed by preventive medicine and modern therapy with great successes in recent years. In contrast, malignant diseases are continuously increasing in the elderly cohort, but a variety of new therapeutic measure shave turned some previously fatal disorders into chronic ones. In contrast, neither preventive nor therapeutic measures are available for dementia. Our response is better care and support, which demands specialized human resources that are becoming scarce. Better training of more individuals to care for elderly is a great challenge for our society.