ageing Flashcards
define ageing/ senescence
- biological process of growing old
- associated with changes in physiology and inc. susceptibilty to disease and inc. likelihood of dying
state the 2 theories to why organisms age
- damage or error theories
2. programmed ageing theories
describe the damage or error theory
- accumulation of damage to DNA, cells, tissue
- e.g. loss of telomerases or oxidative damage
- theory suggests that we can prevent ageing if we can prevent this
describe the programmed ageing theory
- genetic, hormonal, immunological changes lead to cumulative deficits we see as ageing
- suggests ageing is part of an inescapable/ programmed process
what is population ageing?
inc. age of an entire country due to inc. life spans and dec. fertility rates
what is life expectancy?
- expected number of years a person can expect to live
describe disease presentation in older people
older people more likely to have an atypical or non-specific presentation of a disease
what does atypocal mean in this sense?
- symptoms of pathology don’t immediately link to disease e.g. falls, delirium
- giants of geriatric medicine: immobility, intellectual impairment, instability, incontinence, iatrogenic
what are non-specific presentations?
symptom attributed to another cause or old age
delays in treatment
what is fragility?
- Loss of functional reserve among older people
- Leads to impairment of their ability to manage everyday activities
- Inc. likelihood od adverse events and deterioration when faced with a minor stressor
why is disease management hard in older people?
- atypical and non-specific presentation = delays in treatment
- older people often present with multiple problems, all need to be managed simultaneously
- changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics = drug treatments are more dangerous
- many drug trials have low numbers of older people so not always accurate
what are age-related changes seen in brain?
- CSF within surrounding brain inc
- ventricles enlarge
- gaps between major gyri widen
- ## white matter change
why have the rates of dementia diagnosis been low historically?
- misinterpretation
- fatalism (can’t do anything about it so no reason to diagnose)
- social isolation (so no one notices)
what is dementia?
- chronic, progressive, degenerative
- causing a decline in cognition
- more common with inc. age
- most common types: Alzheimer’s and vascular
- start w/ memory problems, progress to include all cognitive functions
what is mild cognitive impairment?
not enough to warrant dementia diagnosis
