'Elder abuse': the case for greater involvement of geriatricians.

Abstract

The phenomenon of elder abuse in the UK has started to reach widespread credibility. The first account of granny battering in the English language has been in the US for sometime. The epidemiological data remain lacking but British and American studies show a degree of consistency. A study of 2020 elderly persons in Boston confirmed an overall prevalence of 3.2% which is subdivided into physical abuse (2.2%) verbal abuse (1.1%) and neglect (0.4%). More British works showed a prevalence of physical abuse of 2.0% one of verbal abuse of 5.0% and one of financial abuse of 2.0%. Physical abuse encompasses a variety of activities such as pushing striking incorrect positioning forced feeding and improper restraint. Such actions most frequently lead to injuries such as bruising or abrasions and less frequently to more serious wounds or fractures. The geriatrician is very familiar with compiling differential diagnosis from nonspecific and puzzling presentations. It is tempting to view elder abuse purely in statistical terms as a minority problem but the true scale neglect is largely unknown. It is clear that the issues raised by the diagnosis exhibit many themes common to modern geriatric practice and geriatricians must not omit an opportunity to improve the quality of their patients lives.