N Engl J Med 2006;354:1157-65. Copyright © 2006 Massachusetts Medical Society. Delirium, an acute decline in attention and cognition, is a common, life-threatening, and potentially preventable clinical syndrome among persons who are 65 years of age or older. The development of delirium often initiates a cascade of events culminating in the loss of independence, an increased risk of morbidity an...

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is an important threat to the health of older adults. Streptococcus pneumonia remains the most important cause of CAP. Risk factors for CAP include alcoholism, asthma, immunosuppression, chronic respiratory or cardiac disease, institutionalization, and increasing age. Residents of long-term care facilities--a distinct subpopulation of elderly people--are at pa...

BACKGROUND Physiologic changes and disease-related alterations in organ function occur with aging. These changes can affect drug pharmacokinetics in older persons. OBJECTIVE This article reviews age-related changes in pharmacokinetics and their clinical relevance. METHODS A PubMed search was conducted using the terms elderly and pharmacokinetics. Other reviews were also included for literat...

Older persons with mental disorders represent a vulnerable group of people with extensive and complex needs. The older population is rapidly increasing worldwide and, as a result of deinstitutionalization in mental health care, older persons are remaining at home to a greater extent. Although they constitute a large proportion of the population, older persons with mental disorders have been neg...

Background and Objectives: Apathy is a behavioral syndrome that often co-occurs with depression. Nonetheless, the etiology of apathy and depression may be different. We hypothesized that apathy occurs more often in depressed compared to non-depressed older persons; and that independent correlates for apathy will be different in depressed and non-depressed older persons. Methods: In this cross-s...

BACKGROUND The situation for older persons with mental disorders other than dementia disorders has scarcely been studied. The older population is increasing worldwide and along with this increase the prevalence of mental disorders will also rise. The treatment of older persons with mental disorders entails complex challenges, with drugs constituting the major medical treatment. Knowledge of ger...