About a hundred years ago, scientists actively began to study the aging processes of organisms. Having understood that these changes are multifaceted and regular, at first they identified gerontology as a general direction of a separate science. Then, a medical unit dedicated to diseases in old age was isolated in it. What kind of doctor is a geriatrician, few know. However, the number of people living to senile age is growing every day, which means that the relevance of training such specialists is increasing.
What kind of doctor is a geriatrician?
A doctor who deals with the prevention of diseases, their treatment, rehabilitation in
elderly patients, is called a geriatrician. What does such a specialist treat? The list of diseases is quite extensive. The geriatrician tries to build the preventive and therapeutic measures of an aging patient in such a way as to prolong his active, independent lifestyle. A person’s age is not a sentence, but it is he who can determine a predisposition to a certain pathology. The geriatrician deals with the problems of the elderly (60-74) and the elderly (75-90). Patients at this age have several important features:
Anatomical and physiological characteristics of the elderly
In the body of an elderly person , internal processes occur, as a result of which morphological and physiological changes accumulate. They are characterized by:
Different flow times. Sexual gland involution in women can occur in 50-55-60 years. In contrast, the activity of the pituitary gland can persist throughout life.
In different areas of the body, the aging process can be expressed to varying degrees.
The rate of aging in organs and systems is also uneven. Changes in the bones, although they appear early, increase at a slow rate. Disturbances in the nervous system can, manifesting late, progress rapidly.
The processes taking place in different tissues can differ in direction (construction-destruction). This reflects adaptation to changes in the body, regulation, and not simple accumulation.
The aging process leads to morphological, structural, functional disorders. They are reflected by age anatomy. During aging, the appearance, proportions, functionality of organs, their size and position change. For example, the weight of the brain, its size and volume are reduced by 20-25%. The accumulation of changes leads to the death of cells, and gradually their mass in the body decreases.
Age-related anatomy is characterized by a decrease in the size of organs and a weakening of the ligamentous apparatus, ptosis is observed. The omission may be uneven and not lead to impaired functioning. And it can cause serious illness.
How do the elderly get sick?
A person’s age testifies not only to a certain social status, but also to the features of the course of ordinary diseases that can occur at age 20 and 76. For example, bronchitis, acute respiratory viral infections, and hypertension. Features of the course of diseases in the elderly are:
Atypical course. Weakening of protective mechanisms leads to greater vulnerability of the elderly patient. A common cold can lead to bilateral pneumonia, and a slight abrasion to gangrene. Therefore, treatment should always be adequate.
The attrition of the clinical picture. When significant violations occur, the response of the body is inadequate and leads to meager complaints. Bilateral pneumonia can occur with a body temperature of 37.1.
In the body, there are disorders from many organs and systems. Therefore, exacerbations of diseases of the endocrine system can be manifested by symptoms of cardiovascular pathology.
Early occurrence of complaints. Compensatory opportunities are significantly undermined, and therefore, even with the first signs of the disease, complaints can be significant.
Diseases of the elderly and senile
For each age, there are characteristic, specific diseases. There are some in elderly patients. Dementia, atherosclerosis, urinary incontinence - the list goes on and on. Most diseases associated with old age may appear earlier. But in 90% of cases they will show themselves after 60.
What does the geriatric treat
Medical care does not currently include an appointment with a separate doctor for patients of an older age group. They are treated by therapists. Some medical universities are already training such specialists for work in polyclinics, so soon in the provinces there will also be an opportunity to personally see what kind of doctor a geriatrician is. He not only understands what diseases are found in elderly patients, but also knows about the features of their course, diagnosis and treatment in this age group. By analyzing complaints and data from laboratory and instrumental methods, he makes a diagnosis. After comparing the possible effect of treatment on concomitant pathology, he selects the optimal treatment regimen. Geriatricians may have a specialization in geriatric cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, etc.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system
Most elderly people have a pathology of the vascular system. Atherosclerosis of vessels, various types of hypertension, arrhythmias, heart failure - all these diseases are treated by geriatrics, taking into account age-related characteristics.
Neurological diseases
It is this group of diseases that to a greater extent limits the ability of elderly patients to self-care. Medical care at home is also limited. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, strokes, dementia and many other diseases will be managed by the geriatrician.
Psychiatric pathology
Depression and anxiety are frequent companions of the older age group. Because of them, patients reduce socialization, become isolated and fenced off from active life. This is not just a character trait, it requires an adequate treatment pathology.
Exchange-endocrine disorders
Violations of the endocrine glands significantly impair the functioning of other organs and systems. Diabetes mellitus leads to polyneuropathy. Further development of complications can be trophic ulcers, impotence, decreased vision, the development of painless forms of myocardial infarction. Thyrotoxicosis leads to a violation of the heart rhythm.
Diseases of the genitourinary system
Impotence, prostate adenoma, urinary incontinence, are frequent manifestations of age-related changes. It must be remembered that detected ptosis of the kidneys or bacteriuria without signs of the disease (temperature, renal indices, a shift in the KLA) do not require the use of drug therapy. In this case, they are only a reflection of the patient's age.
Locomotor system disorders
A significant obstacle to the movement of older people are numerous violations of the musculoskeletal system. Osteoporosis changes bone density. The elasticity of the intervertebral discs, which can change their location, is reduced.
Gastrointestinal diseases
Against the background of a decrease in the function of the digestive glands and intestinal motility, constipation, hemorrhoids, and anal fissures are observed.
In addition, impaired vision, hearing, tactile perception predispose to a decrease in the social adaptation of such patients. In old age people enter, having about 4 chronic diseases. After another 10 years, their number doubles.
Why you need to contact a geriatrician
When complaints appear, elderly patients try to recover on their own. After a considerable time after the unsuccessful intake of various drugs, they turn to the local therapist. In most cases, patients receive standard treatment regimens there, without taking into account the filtering ability of the kidneys and other age-related changes. It is a specialist who has studied the physiological characteristics of the elderly and pharmacological transformations, will be able to help most effectively.
However, wondering what kind of doctor is a geriatrician, it must be remembered that he not only heals. You need to contact a specialist in advance to develop an individual plan for maintaining an active life. It will include recommendations on physical activity, diet and physical activity. And if diseases occur, treatment recommendations will be given in accordance with the age of the patient. It is knowledge of the underlying features that cause positive reviews about geriatricians.
Now there are about 700 million people of advanced and senile age. The average age of the inhabitants of the Earth is steadily increasing. This trend allows us to predict an increase in the need for geriatric care in the near future.