title: Understanding elder abuse in family practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discuss what constitutes elder abuse, why family physicians should be aware of it, what signs and symptoms might suggest mistreatment of older adults, how the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index might help in identification of abuse, and what options exist for responding to suspicions of abuse.
  
  
  METHODS
  MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Social Work Abstracts were searched for publications in English or French, from 1970 to 2011, using the terms elder abuse, elder neglect, elder mistreatment, seniors, older adults, violence, identification, detection tools, and signs and symptoms. Relevant publications were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elder abuse is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults. While family physicians are well placed to identify mistreatment of seniors, their actual rates of reporting abuse are lower than those in other professions. This might be improved by an understanding of the range of acts that constitute elder abuse and what signs and symptoms seen in the office might suggest abuse. Detection might be enhanced by use of a short validated tool, such as the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family physicians can play a larger role in identifying possible elder abuse. Once suspicion of abuse is raised, most communities have social service or law enforcement providers available to do additional assessments and interventions.
authors.affiliation: St Mary's Hospital, Family Medicine Centre, 3830 Lacombe Ave, Montreal, QC H3T 1M5. mark.yaffe@mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yaffe
authors.forename: Bachir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tazkarji
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D010819:Physician's Role