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INVESTIGATION OF THE ELDERLY PATIENT

ATTITUDES towards ill health in old people is now changing and, instead of the rather passive approach to diagnosis, there has been a swing-perhaps too fartowards intensive investigation. The object of investigation of any patient is to discover conditions which can be treated. Elderly patients tend to suffer from multiple pathological conditions and from the effects of normal ageing of tissues, and the result is frequently a somewhat complex situation. The problem which has disabled the patient, however, is usually limited to only one clinical condition, and the object of investigation is to treat the problem rather than to become involved in every other condition which may be found. Therefore, some balance is needed in any investigation to avoid the pitfalls either of inadequacy and missing treatable disease or of overinvestigation which may be unpleasant for the patient and result in overtreatment when a simpler regimen would be all that is necessary.