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Aging, the Heart, Emergencies, and Us

Michael E. Zenilman, MD

Arch Surg. 2007;142(2):109-110.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I have had an interest in surgery in the elderly ever since I cared for patients at a large geriatric center in Baltimore, Md. With the significant increase in our older patients, elderly surgery is now a popular topic for grand rounds and symposia. The message I always try to stress is that 2 issues affect outcome in these patients: the presence of an active comorbid illness (mainly cardiac disease) and emergency surgery. If we get control of these illnesses perioperatively, our elderly patients can do very well. Last month I updated data for my talks and I will show herein that things are looking pretty good for our older patients.

According to the National Census Bureau,¹ a woman born in 2003 is expected to live 80.1 years; a man is expected to live 74.8 years. The data I used previously were from 1999, when the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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