July 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 7
Stay abreast of geriatric health care
BY SHARON DICKINSON DENT
If you think you see a lot of elderly patients in your practice now, just wait a few more years.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the population of people 65 and older increased by close to 4 million between 1990 and 2000. The total of those 85 and older went up by more than 1.1 million.
Projections for 2020, compared with numbers for 2000, include a 54 percent increase in people 65 and older, as well as a 60 percent increase in those 85 and older (see table below).
As the elderly population skyrockets, research findings about geriatric health care will appear more frequently in scholarly journals and in the news. Some recent nuggets of information include:
- a recent report that says chronic disability rates are falling at an accelerating pace among white and black elderly patients, and
- the American Academy of Neurology's release of revised evidence-based guidelines for the detection, diagnosis and treatment of dementia in the elderly, with an emphasis on Alzheimer's disease.
For more on these topics and on osteoporosis and hip fracture, see the accompanying stories.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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