Cassel C K
Henry L. Schwartz Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA.
Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2000 May 5;112(9):386-93.
It is a common knowledge that the population around the world is growing old at an unprecedented rate. This is the success story of increasing life expectancy. The demographic breakthroughs occurred in the 20th century. The quality of life breakthrough is our challenge for the 21st century. The implications of the growing elderly population are many, including: rising total health care expenditures; the increasing needs for long-term care services; and the need for expert and focused health care services. Since health care costs increase with advancing age of populations, these costs will fall on older persons, families, and society generally. There is real value for everyone in meeting the needs of an aging society, especially if seen as part of a social contract. The ability to live independently improves with access to good care, but decreases dramatically for those with age-related disabling conditions. With the decreasing number of informal caregivers around the world, frail elderly will require more formal long-term care services. However, due to inadequate attention given to long-term care issues, numerous developed countries have recently started to struggle to develop long-term care service programs that will both meet the rising needs for this service and be cost-effective. Effective medical care requires expertise in functional assessment, interdisciplinary care, and advances in treating symptoms of aging. The field of geriatrics is essential to modern health care, and geriatricians need to have proper training that focuses diagnosing and treating this group of patients. Quality care will not only help the elderly to live productively and independently, but it will also tremendously benefit families and communities.
众所周知，全球人口正以前所未有的速度老龄化。这是预期寿命延长的成功故事。人口结构的突破发生在20世纪。生活质量的突破是我们21世纪面临的挑战。老年人口增长带来的影响众多，包括：医疗保健总支出不断增加；长期护理服务需求日益增长；以及对专业且有针对性的医疗保健服务的需求。由于医疗保健成本会随着人口年龄的增长而增加，这些成本将普遍由老年人、家庭和社会承担。满足老龄化社会的需求对每个人都具有实际价值，尤其是如果将其视为社会契约的一部分。获得优质护理能提高独立生活能力，但对于患有与年龄相关的致残疾病的人来说，独立生活能力会大幅下降。随着全球非正式护理人员数量的减少，体弱的老年人将需要更多的正式长期护理服务。然而，由于对长期护理问题关注不足，许多发达国家最近开始努力制定长期护理服务计划，既要满足对该服务不断增长的需求，又要具有成本效益。有效的医疗护理需要在功能评估、跨学科护理以及治疗衰老症状方面具备专业知识。老年医学领域对现代医疗保健至关重要，老年医学专家需要接受专注于诊断和治疗这类患者的适当培训。优质护理不仅有助于老年人富有成效地独立生活，还将极大地造福家庭和社区。
