In 1909 a short contribution entitled "Geriatrics" was published in
the New York Medical Journal. According to this article, old age
represents a distinct period oflife in which the physiologic
changes caused by aging are accompanied by an increasing number of
pathologic changes. We now know that the organs of the body age
neither at the same rate nor to the same extent and that
physiologic alterations are indeed superimposed by pathologic
changes; as a result of the latter phenomenon the origins and
course of illnesses in the elderly can present unusual
characteristics. The frequency of concurrent disorders in the
elderly entails the danger of polypragmatic pharmacotherapy, i. e.,
the use of various drugs to combat various disorders while
neglecting the possibly adverse combined effects of these drugs. To
obviate this danger, special knowledge in the field of geriatrics,
the medical branch of gerontology, is necessary. Geriatrics is
constantly increasing in importance owing to the near doubling of
life expectancy over the past 130 years and to the improved
diagnostic and therapeutic techniques made available by medical pro
gress. The rapid recent development of experimental gerontology has
played an essential role in enabling us to understand the special
features of geriatrics. This progress has, however, been
accompanied by such a vast increase in the volume of literature on
the subject that specialists in the field can scarcely maintain an
overall perspective of new publications."
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