MEDtube Science 2014 - Treatment of dyspnea in the elderly – when social care gains the advantage

Dyspnea is more prevalent in aging persons. It is more common, and often more severe in the last few weeks before death. Despite dyspnea being a highly prevalent symptom in older adults and increasesmore frequent with age regardless of the type of illness or community which patients live in, research indicates that dyspnea is inadequately assessed at the end of life. It can be noticed that a valuable considerable number of elder people come to ER with dyspnea but investigations reveal no relevant organic disease. Studying their social life might bring information which helps to understand the reasons.
The aim of the study: To characterize patients suffering from dyspnea that need social care rather than medical care (with special attention to patients living alone) and to evaluate whether there is a relationship between dyspnea and lonelinessliving alone in elder people.
Methods: Every patient ≥60 years that presented to ER or clinic with dyspnea and was seen by the author was included to the study. The whole group was divided according to age (from 60 to