ABPS Geriatric Medicine key terms

A structured, multidisciplinary evaluation of an older adult covering medical, functional, cognitive, psychological, and social domains, used to build an individualized care plan and improve outcomes.

Basic self-care tasks such as bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence, and feeding. Loss of ADL independence signals significant functional impairment and higher care needs.

Higher-order tasks needed to live independently, such as managing finances, medications, shopping, cooking, transportation, and using the telephone. Impairment often precedes ADL loss.

A state of reduced physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to stressors, often marked by unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slow gait, and low activity, raising risk of falls, disability, and death.

Age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength, and function that contributes to weakness, slow gait, falls, and loss of independence in older adults.

The time required to walk a fixed distance, commonly used as a simple marker of overall health, mobility, and frailty; slower speed predicts disability, hospitalization, and mortality.

An acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness, often triggered by illness, medications, or surgery. It is a medical emergency and frequently mistaken for dementia.

A chronic, progressive decline in two or more cognitive domains severe enough to impair independence in daily function, not explained by delirium or another reversible cause.

Cognitive decline beyond normal aging that is noticeable and measurable but does not yet substantially interfere with independence; it carries increased risk of progressing to dementia.

The cumulative effect of taking one or more medications with anticholinergic properties, which can cause confusion, constipation, urinary retention, falls, and worsening cognition in older adults.

The concurrent use of multiple medications, often defined as five or more, which increases the risk of adverse drug events, drug interactions, and prescribing cascades in older adults.

A published list of medications considered potentially inappropriate for older adults because of high risk of harm, used to guide safer prescribing and medication review.

The planned, supervised process of reducing or stopping medications that are no longer beneficial, are causing harm, or no longer align with an older adult's goals of care.

A drop in blood pressure on standing that can cause dizziness, syncope, and falls. It is common in older adults and often worsened by dehydration or antihypertensive medications.

A brief, self-limited loss of consciousness due to transient global cerebral hypoperfusion, with rapid complete recovery. In older adults it warrants evaluation for cardiac and medication causes.

A structured evaluation of gait, balance, vision, medications, footwear, home hazards, and prior falls used to identify older adults at high risk and guide prevention strategies.

Persistent worry about falling that leads older adults to restrict activity, causing deconditioning, loss of mobility, and paradoxically increased fall risk.

Involuntary loss of urine, classified as stress, urge, overflow, or functional types. It is common in older adults, often treatable, and should not be dismissed as normal aging.

An irregular, often rapid atrial rhythm that raises stroke risk and is common in older adults; management balances anticoagulation for stroke prevention against bleeding risk.

Use of medications to prevent clot formation, central to stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation; in older adults, dosing and choice require weighing bleeding risk, falls, and kidney function.

Heart failure with normal or near-normal pumping function but impaired relaxation and filling, common in older adults and often associated with hypertension, obesity, and atrial fibrillation.

A chronic disorder of elevated blood glucose whose management in older adults emphasizes avoiding hypoglycemia and individualizing glucose targets to functional status and life expectancy.

Abnormally low blood glucose that can cause confusion, falls, and seizures; older adults are at higher risk because of reduced kidney function, polypharmacy, and blunted symptoms.

Long-standing reduction in kidney function or markers of kidney damage; in older adults it alters drug dosing, fluid balance, and risk of electrolyte disorders.

A low serum sodium concentration that commonly causes confusion, weakness, and falls in older adults; frequent causes include diuretics, excess fluid intake, and some antidepressants.

Reduced bone mass and disrupted bone structure that increase fracture risk, especially of the hip, spine, and wrist; screening and treatment are central to fracture prevention in older adults.

Degenerative joint disease causing pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility, most often in knees, hips, and hands; management combines exercise, weight control, and judicious analgesia.

A clinical syndrome of tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability that may result from Parkinson disease or from medications and other causes; it increases fall risk.

A persistent mood disorder often presenting with somatic complaints, withdrawal, or cognitive slowing rather than sadness; it worsens function and can mimic or accompany dementia.

Recommended vaccines for older adults, such as influenza, pneumococcal, shingles, and COVID-19 vaccines, adjusted for age, chronic illness, and immune status to reduce preventable infection.

Lower respiratory infection that may present without fever or cough, instead causing confusion, weakness, or falls; it is a leading cause of hospitalization and death in this group.

An ongoing process of discussing and documenting an older adult's values, goals, and preferences for future medical care, so decisions can be guided if the person loses decision-making capacity.

A written legal document, such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care, that records treatment preferences or names a surrogate decision-maker for future medical decisions.

A person's ability to understand relevant information, appreciate consequences, reason about options, and communicate a choice; it is assessed for specific decisions rather than globally.

The patient-centered aims that guide treatment choices, such as prolonging life, maintaining function, or maximizing comfort, and that should be revisited as health and preferences change.

A team-based model of care focused on comfort and quality of life for people with a serious illness and limited life expectancy, including support for family caregivers.

Specialized care that relieves symptoms and supports quality of life for people with serious illness at any stage, delivered alongside curative or disease-directed treatment.

Combining different analgesic approaches, such as acetaminophen, topical agents, nerve blocks, and non-drug methods, to control pain while limiting reliance on opioids and their adverse effects.

Careful prescribing of opioid pain relievers accounting for increased sensitivity, falls, constipation, sedation, and drug interactions, with use of the lowest effective dose and close monitoring.

The array of services, including home care, assisted living, skilled nursing facilities, and community supports, that provides ongoing assistance to people with lasting functional or cognitive impairment.