The geriatric canon

Abstract

Over the years Geriatrics and gerontology have developed a language shared by most clinicians and researchers who unequivocally defines the health conditions of aging people: one could speak of "geriatric canon", i.e. the set of fundamentals (paradigms, principles, standard reference vocabulary) of geriatric knowledge, the heritage from which they draw inspiration and from which the actions for the care of the elderly can be driven, the scientific works for the study of their health. The aim of this paper is to describe and report the most important terms of the geriatric canon, in a simplified way, in order to establish a more precise use of geriatric terminology that can be easily utilized by the cardiologists, or other specialists who takes care of elderly patients, without depriving them of their clinical significance, and becoming heritage of ordinary medical language.

Keywords

• Comorbidity
• multimorbidity
• frailty
• disability
• complexity.