老年医学发展现状及展望

Current status of geriatrics and its prospect

目的根据国内外老年医学研究现状和发展动态,提出老年医学发展方向。方法采用文献检索方法,复习近10年来国内外该领域的主要文献,明确该学科的现状和发展趋势。结果近10年来,老年医学在基础研究和临床诊治方面均有长足发展。深入研究衰老和抗衰老基因将为揭示人类寿命秘密、探讨延缓衰老对策提供理论依据。对于老年多器官疾病、高血压、冠心病、多病因心衰、退行性心脏瓣膜病、痴呆、呼吸疾病及骨质疏松等老年人常见疾病的研究进展,有助于揭示老年疾病发病特征和规律,提高诊断的准确率,并加强防治。老年循证医学和社区医学的兴起及完善,将不断提高老年人生活质量,促进老年人身心健康。结论未来老年医学研究,应对衰老的起因、老年疾病的特征作进一步探讨,以最新的研究成果指导实践;研制针对老年常见慢性疾病的新药和防治措施,提高防治水平;重视老年社会医学研究;加强老年疾病预防及老年保健。

Objective To suggest the developmental direction of geriatrics based on the current status of domestic and international gerontological researches. Methods Professional literature in the gerontological field published domestically and abroad in recent 10 years were retrieved, and the current status and trend of progress in gerontology were analyzed. Results In recent 10 years, great progress was witnessed in geriatrics both in basic research and clinical diagnosis and treatment. With indept research concerining aging and anti-aging genetics, the secrets of prolonging longevity and the underlying mechanism of senescence of human being would be revealed, thus a theoretical basis for anti-aging strategy could be formalated. The research on multi-organ dysfunction, hypertension, coronary heart disease, multi-factor heart failure and senile degenerative valvular heart disease, Alzheimer disease, senile pulmonary disease and osteoporosis, and other common diseases in aged individuals might be able to reveal the clinical characteristics, improvement in their diagnostic accuracy, prevention, and control. The development of evidence-based medicine and community medicine would contribute to improve the quality of life and physical and mental health of the elderly people. Conclusions Gerontological research should focus on the causes and features of aging in the future to guide the clinical practice with the latest research findings, new medicines and prevention measures of common chronic diseases in elderly people, and also focus on community medicine to improve prevention and health care for the elderly people.