title: [Polyneuropathies in old age].
abstract: 70 patients were examined in a prospective study to clarify causes of polyneuropathies becoming manifest beyond the age of 60. 29 patients (41.4%) had mixed symmetrical sensorimotor polyneuropathy and 21 (30%) symmetrical sensory polyneuropathy. Peripheral neurological deficits were asymmetrically distributed in 20 patients (28.6%). Polyneuropathy was monocausal in 31 patients (44.3%), whereas a variety of pathogenetic factors was found in 29 patients (41.4%). Aetiology remained undetermined in 10 patients (14.3%). The causes of polyneuropathies differ markedly in elderly patients from those found in studies not restricted to specific age groups. Insufficient gastrointestinal absorption, in particular, appears to be a prominent pathogenetic factor, more often than even diabetes mellitus (n = 39, corresponding to 55.7%). However, diabetes was the underlying pathogenetic factor in 90% of patients with asymmetrically distributed polyneuropathies. In spite of this, multifactorial pathogenesis in the elderly would require a search for causes other than diabetes even in asymmetrically distributed polyneuropathies.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011115:Polyneuropathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology
vernacular_title: Polyneuropathien im höheren Lebensalter.