Norman Dean C, Wong Megan Bernadette, Yoshikawa Thomas T
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2007 Dec;21(4):937-45, viii. doi: 10.1016/j.idc.2007.09.003.
Infectious diseases in general in the aged are associated with higher morbidity and mortality rates. Decremental biologic changes with age affect host defenses and responses to infection, and the frequent presence of comorbidities also may adversely impact host defenses, especially in frail older persons. Infections may present differently in older persons than in younger populations, making early diagnosis difficult. Within this context, the article explores the importance of how fever of unknown origin (FUO) in the old differs significantly from FUO in younger adults because the etiology is different. Moreover, it is important to aggressively determine the etiology of FUO in this older population because it is often treatable.
一般而言，老年人的传染病发病率和死亡率较高。随着年龄增长，生物机能减退会影响宿主防御能力及对感染的反应，同时并存疾病的频繁出现也可能对宿主防御产生不利影响，尤其是在体弱的老年人中。老年人感染的表现可能与年轻人群不同，这使得早期诊断变得困难。在此背景下，本文探讨了老年人不明原因发热（FUO）与年轻成年人的FUO存在显著差异的重要性，因为病因不同。此外，积极确定老年人群中FUO的病因很重要，因为它通常是可治疗的。
