TYPOLOGY OF DISEASE IN OLD-AGE - CONSEQUE NCES FOR PREVENTIVE CONCEPTS

Conventional dichotomy or three-part classifications for disease and a ge are not very helpful for practical application. The article present s a typology of disease, which we developed further into four categori es. It considers the relation between physiological processes of aging and pathological developments as well as the courses of disease in ol d age. Adequate prevention strategies can be derived. Category I(physi ological changes in old age which are only possibly a disease) demonst rates the importance of the context in illness. Physiological processe s of aging with a high plasticity can be influenced by prevention stra tegies. Category II (age-related disease with a long latency period) d emonstrates the problem of early recognition and secondary prevention. The category III (disease with different physiological process in old age because of reduced homeostatic regulation and repair mechanism) i s not receptive to preventative concepts, but only to tertiary prevent ion and rehabilitation. In the category IV (disease as a result of lon g term exposure, increasing with lifetime) population-based prevention strategies are sensible.