[Decision making in the elderly: which tools for its evaluation by the clinician?].
Numerous decision-making situations occur in the activities of daily living. The consequences of the decision-making capacity disturbances may have a great impact on the patient's autonomy, financial management, and his or her reaction to a diagnosis as well as the ability to accept a therapeutic option or give informed consent. Decision-making is a complex and multi-dimensional process and brings into play attention, memory and executive functions, which are processed in the prefrontal cortex, particularly vulnerable in aging. A better comprehension of the mechanisms of decision-making, and of the resulting social consequences of their dysfunction may improve autonomy of the elderly. Unfortunately, we still lack appropriate tools to explore decision-making in routine practice.
Hommet
Caroline
C
Service de médecine interne gériatrique, CHU de Tours et Université F. Rabelais, Tours. hommet@med.univ-tours.fr
Constans
Thierry
T
Atanasova
Boriana
B
Mondon
Karl
K
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016743:Mental Competency; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology