title: [Specificity of stroke in the elderly: clinical characteristics and impact on care].
abstract: Stroke in the elderly differs from stroke in younger adults in several points. It represents the most frequent consequence of atherothrombotic disease associated with hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. It is also the main complication of cardiac arrhythmia. From a clinical point of view, epileptic seizure is frequently observed at the onset, and prognosis is darkened by a high risk of dementia occurrence (20%). Management of stroke in acute phase requires intensive care, which has been shown to decrease mortality and handicap by 20% in Stroke Units. Fibrinolysis with rt-PA can be carried out till 80 years. Primary and secondary prevention are still very efficacious in old patients and decrease not only the risk of stroke, but also the risk of dementia. Moreover, influenzae vaccination has been shown to decrease the risk of stroke in the following year in subjects over 65 years.
authors.affiliation: Service de neurologie, Hôpital général, CHU Dijon.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rouaud
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Contegal
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Benatru
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Couvreur
authors.forename: Guy-Victor
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Osseby
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pinoit
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Terriat
authors.forename: Thibault
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pfitzenmeyer
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giroud
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005791:Patient Care / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control