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Pain Management in Elderly Patients

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Essentials of Pain Management

Abstract

The aging process leads to progressive physiological changes. Individuals are more vulnerable to injury at both extremes of age and are more adaptable when bodily injury occurs in adulthood. This chapter will emphasize the changes that one experiences with age. Chronological age refers to age according to birth date, whereas biological age is the estimated age based on the degree of physiological degeneration or loss of physiologic reserve (Lee 2003). Physiologic changes do not necessarily parallel that of chronological age. Furthermore, specific physiological processes may age at different rates in the same individual. In addition to normal physiologic changes that occur with aging, coexisting medical conditions are also more prevalent in the elderly. The normal physiological changes associated with aging are distinct from changes brought on by disease. The pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, neurologic, and cognitive changes in the elderly are affected as much by normal physiology as they are by disease.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Shamsuddin Akhtar MBBS (Assistant Professor)

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Roberto Rappa MD (Resident)

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, VA Medical Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    M. Khurrum Ghori MD (Assistant Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology)

Authors
  1. Shamsuddin Akhtar MBBS
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  2. Roberto Rappa MD
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  3. M. Khurrum Ghori MD
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Dept. Anesthesiology, Yale University, Cedar Street 333, New Haven, 06520-8051, Connecticut, USA

    Nalini Vadivelu

  2. Brigham & Women's Hospital, Dept. Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Francis St. 75, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard D. Urman

  3. School of Medicine, Dept. Anesthesiology, Yale University, Cedar Street 333, New Haven, 06520-8051, Connecticut, USA

    Roberta L. Hines

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Akhtar, S., Rappa, R., Ghori, M.K. (2011). Pain Management in Elderly Patients. In: Vadivelu, N., Urman, R., Hines, R. (eds) Essentials of Pain Management. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87579-8_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87579-8_32

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-87578-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-87579-8

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