Ageing and Frailty Flashcards
What is compression of morbidity?
Preventing the older life expectancy causing a protracted period of disability in the elderly
What is a geriatric syndrome?
The accumulated effect of impairments in multiple domains that together result in a particular adverse outcome
What is the definition of a disability?
A physical or mental impairment that limit 1 or more major ADLs
T/F the reason we have more old people compared to in the past is because people are living to an greater age
False, it’s because more people are living out their life expectancy
What are the healthcare implications of disability?
Rehab
Social integration and community services
Aim to decrease dependency
Potential for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
What are the “Giants of Geriatric Medicine”
Incontinence
Immobility
Impaired balance
Impaired cognition
Iatrogenic illness
What is the difference between successful ageing and usual ageing?
Successful ageing refers to changes due solely to the ageing process, unaffected by disease, environmental or lifestyle factors whereas usual ageing refers to changes associated with the combined effects of the ageing process, disease and adverse environment and lifestyle factors
What are the healthcare implications of co-morbidity?
The complexity of treating concurrent diseases
Potential for preventing diseases or minimising severity
Fragmentation of services
Minimise risk of disability and frailty
What is the physiological state proposed to cause frailty?
Low-grade, chronic activation of the immune system with abnormalities of the endocrine and coagulation systems
Why does sarcopenia occur?
Altered CNS and PNS innervation
Altered hormonal status
Inflammatory effect
Altered caloric and protein intake
Disuse
What is frailty characteristed by?
Diminished ability to carry out the important practical and social activities of daily living
Excess demand imposed upon reduced capacity
Precarious balance easily perturbed
Risk of adverse health outcomes
Unable to integrate responses in the face of stress
What is sarcopenia?
Ageing of skeletal muscle
What is cellular senescence?
Phenomenon where cells lose their ability to divide
What is co-morbidity?
The presence of > than 2 chronic diseases
Which cytokines have been postulated to play a role in ageing?
IL6 and TNFalpha
What are Fried’s criteria of frailty?
Unintentional weight loss
Weakness
Exhaustion
Slow walking speed
Low physical activity
What are the effects of sarcopenia?
Change in gait
Loss of posture and balance
Which type of muscle fibres are preferentially affected in ageing?
Type 2 fibres - fast twitch
T/F the decline in reserve capacity for each organ is the same for different people
False, different people’s organs will decline at different rates
What do cells do in response to DNA damage?
Senescence or apoptosis
Why are more people living out their live expectancy?
Because there is less acquisition of disease due to better accommodation, sanitation, water, nutrition, maternal outcomes and use of vaccines
