DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ASTHMA IN THE ELDERLY - WITH AN EMPHASIS ON MAJOR DISEASES, DRUG SIDE-EFFECTS, AND DRUG-INTERACTIONS

It is unusual for elderly patients to be free of hypertension, coronar y artery, or other types of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. They are frequently a variety of therapies for these disorders that have t o be considered before formulating a strategy for the treatment of ast hma. Thus, a clinical understanding of disease-disease, disease-drug, and drug-drug interactions between asthma and other associated illness es is imperative. This article focuses on the major diseases, drugs, a nd drug interactions that challenge us when treating asthma in the eld er patient. Although clearly an integral part of a continuum of diseas e, asthma in the elderly patient may be quite different.