[Specificity of stroke in the elderly: clinical characteristics and impact on care].
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.
Rouaud
Olivier
O
Service de neurologie, Hôpital général, CHU Dijon.
Contegal
Fabienne
F
Benatru
Isabelle
I
Couvreur
Grégory
G
Osseby
Guy-Victor
GV
Pinoit
Jean-Michel
JM
Terriat
Béatrice
B
Moreau
Thibault
T
Pfitzenmeyer
Pierre
P
Giroud
Maurice
M
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