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What is Geriatrics?

Geriatrics is the subspecialty of internal medicine that provides primary care to older adults. Physical health tends to decline with age, and geriatricians work to manage such age-related concerns as chronic illness, frailty, multiple medications, and declining mental health to keep seniors as active and independent as possible.

Some of the most common concerns seen by a geriatrician include:

• Mobility issues, including the need for canes and walkers, as well as preventing falls
• Osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones, which affects as many as a quarter of all men and half of all women over fifty
• Loss of hearing or vision
• Incontinence, or the inability to control one's bladder
• Memory loss, including dementia and Alzheimer's disease

A geriatrician may also provide their patients with comprehensive care that includes checking on their social health. Seniors are at increased risk for poverty, loneliness, abuse, and injuries in the home. As part of their health care, a geriatrician may inquire about family support, living conditions, or the ability of a patient to perform daily self-care tasks.

In some cases, a geriatrician may serve as an advisor to other physicians on a specific case or condition. However, most of the time geriatrics is a primary care specialty, and geriatricians provide routine health care to the older patients they work with.