Strokes occur when there is an interruption of blood flow to part of the brain. The most common cause of the interruption of blood flow is the plugging of an artery inside or leading to the brain. The plug is most often a blood clot or an embolus. An embolus is a piece of clot or other material broken off from somewhere else in the circulatory system. This kind of stroke, caused by interruption of blood flow, is an ischemic stroke and is the major cause of stroke in elderly patients. TIAs are small, reversible strokes.
Urinary incontinence is the inability to control urination. It has many causes. The problem may originate with the bladder or with the urethra, which is the canal that leads the urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. Often incontinence is the result of other illnesses and is only temporary. Incontinence varies from occasional episodes to total loss of bladder control
Smoking cessation is good preventive health care. It is particularly important for patients suffering from a select list of health problems. This list includes angina pectoris (heart pain), heart attack, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (including emphysema and/or chronic bronchitis), stroke, dyspepsia, and osteoporosis. You are never too old to gain a benefit from stopping smoking.
Somnolence is not exclusive to elderly patients, but it is a common accompaniment of the aging process.
Two medical problems occur with somnolence, or excessive sleeping. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common. This means a stopping of breathing that lasts more than 10 seconds by obstruction of the passages in the upper airway. This occurs in people who are overweight and who have high blood pressure. In younger patients, it is more common in men than in women, but with advancing years, more women are sufferers. Loud snoring alone is not a disease problem, however disturbing it may be to a sleeping partner.
The skin and its appendages, principally the hair and the nails, are susceptible to aging. The commonest of all of the aging changes, gray hair, is an example of a skin appendage change. Many factors may affect the speed of the aging process in the skin. Exposure to sunlight speeds aging changes in the skin more than any other factor.
An itch is a skin sensation. The other skin sensations are touch, pain, heat, and cold. An itch leads to a desire to scratch. Itching has many causes from simple dryness of the skin to serious systemic diseases.
Aging of the skin produces changes in the glands that open through the pores onto the skin surface. Atrophy of these glands reduces the moisture that the skin retains in the dead and dying cells that form the outer layer of the skin. With a seasonal drop in humidity such as occurs in winter, dry skin worsens. The dry air of central heating systems adds to the problem of dry skin. Exposure outdoors to the wind and cold is an additional factor.
The skin may become inflamed because of contact with a variety of materials. Materials to which the patient is allergic or that are particularly irritating can induce an inflammatory response in the skin. Skin gradually acquires allergic sensitivity, and this becomes more common with aging. Aging changes in the skin also include thinning, which results in a more fragile and a less protected skin. These changes increase the susceptibility to irritants in elderly patients.
Shingles is an infection caused by the same virus that produces chickenpox. After childhood, the chickenpox virus remains in nerves in a dormant state. If immunity to the virus wanes, the infection may become reactivated, producing a painful skin eruption commonly called shingles. This relapse has its peak occurrence between the ages of 50 and 70 years.
If a blood clot forms in the circulation in a vein, it may become dislodged and be carried through the blood vessels, through the heart, and into the lungs. In the lungs, it will become trapped when it plugs a blood vessel. Such a clot formed in the circulation and carried to the lung is a pulmonary embolism.
The prostate gland surrounds the urethra, the passageway for urine that leads from the bladder to the outside of the body. Cancer may develop in this gland. Prostatic cancer is a disease of older men. The tumor is often silent and without symptoms until cancer has spread.
Pressure sores, also called bedsores and decubitus ulcers, occur when there is unrelenting pressure on the skin. This pressure interferes with blood flow, thus causing the skin to break down and form an ulcer. Any diseases or problems that lead to immobility can result in pressure sores. It is a common secondary problem in elderly patients.
