Geriatrics – it’s a speciality. Not many common folks would come across until they have a loved one who requires geriatric care. If it’s your first time coming across the term, geriatrics is a branch of medicine focused on older adults. Thus, practitioners of geriatrics known as “geriatricians”, are regular doctors with additional training to provide care and treatment for older adults.

We know many of our first-time readers would have many questions and may not know where to begin. Let us guide you on what geriatricians do, who we work with and what kind of treatments/illnesses we can help out with if your loved ones require help.

Geriatricians are not Gerontologists

There’s a good chance you might have stumbled upon the term “gerontologist” as you were searching for this very article. While we share similar areas of work, our functions are quite different.

For starters, gerontology is a multidisciplinary approach to studying the mental, physical and social aspects and implications of ageing. This means they would cover aspects like public policy, psychology or even economics to study how an ageing population would affect welfare policies, for example. Their focus is to teach people about the challenges older adults face and find future solutions on the macro scale.

Geriatricians, on the other hand, are focused on the long-term care of older adults. We’re specialists focused on helping to educate our patients on methods to prevent or reduce their risk of contracting diseases that come with ageing, manage symptoms of diseases related to ageing and overall help to ensure the best possible quality of life for older adults, specific to each individual.

In short, if you’d like to understand the broader implications of ageing on society and the economy of a region – grab a gerontologist for coffee. If you’d like help with diagnosing and treating diseases in older adults, visit geriatricians!

What Do Geriatricians Do, Exactly?

Good question, and we’re happy to explain. Let’s go over the different conditions or situations where we would be the best fit, shall we?

Diagnose & Treat Certain Conditions

As we’ve mentioned earlier, we are specialists in certain diseases/conditions that are related to ageing. It’s common for adults aged 60 years and older to have at least one long-term condition they require help with, and it’s fairly common to have two conditions that need to be managed at the same time. A quick list of the common conditions would be:

• Arthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Heart disease
• Balance issues
• Decrease in motor functions
• Incontinence
• Insomnia (Read More)
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Depression
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Dementia

We’ll go a little deeper into these in the next section. We also work closely with caregivers to manage the overall care for older adults, which can be in the form of:

• Family members/relatives
• Caregivers
• Family physicians
• Nurses
• Pharmacists
• Social workers
• Physical therapists
• Mental health experts
• Care homes

It’s because we work closely with the ecosystem of professionals in aged care who are uniquely capable of providing treatment and care for older adults to keep them healthy and living their best lives. It’s the golden years for a reason, right?

Conditions Geriatricians Treat

As mentioned in the previous section, let’s talk about certain common conditions, and why it’s important to see a geriatrician to prevent/treat these conditions.

Falling (Read More)

According to a recent article by Pantai Hospital published on 31st October 2023, 30% of adults above 65 years of age fall once a year, and as much as 40% of those above the age of 80 fall once a year as well.

What causes falls? It’s usually a combination of factors that lead to a bad fall, this includes:

• Vertigo
• Osteoporosis
• Nerve & joint problems that affect motor function
• General weakness as a result of muscle atrophy
• Loss of balance
• Mental decline
• Environmental factors (slippery wet floors, poor lighting, uneven walking surfaces, etc)

We focus on both preventive measures and treatment of injuries resulting from falls. These measures depend on each individual include:

• Fall assessments to determine the risk of falling
• Exercise and training programs to improve balance, strength and walking ability
• Aids like walking sticks, and walkers to help with coordination and balance
• Medication changes (e.g. changing medications that could lead to light-headedness as a side effect)
• Tips to make the environment at home safer.

Dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease (Read More)

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are not the same thing, though they share similarities in terms of symptoms such as memory loss that is severe enough to affect the daily life and independence of an older adult. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for roughly 60-80% of dementia cases.

Geriatricians are experts when it comes to diagnosing the causes of dementia using a combination of memory, ability, and mood tests along with blood works and brain scans if necessary to understand the extent to which these diseases are affecting an older adult’s ability to care for themselves, and how it is affecting their health.

Depending on what we find during the diagnosis, we would be able to recommend various treatments to be considered by the patient and their family as well as advise your caregivers or care team to plan for their long-term care and comfort.

Incontinence

Incontinence is a common problem among older adults that is usually difficult to bring up in our discussions with them because it’s perceived as something embarrassing to admit – but it’s not! It’s a normal part of ageing, and there are ways to treat it.

Geriatricians usually begin treating this condition by conducting a urodynamic test, which would tell us how well the bladder can hold and empty urine. Depending on your medical history, genetics and medications you’re currently on, we could then recommend certain treatments which include:

• Medications
• Assistive devices (disposable lines and underwear)
• Exercises to strengthen muscles related to urination
• Urination schedules to regulate urination cycles
• Surgery
• Biofeedback (therapy to strengthen control of the pelvic floor)

Depression

Isn’t this something psychologists/psychiatrists work on? Yes, it’s one of the areas of medicine that intersect with geriatrics as well. A recent article in FreeMalaysiaToday mentions that depression affects up to 15% of those aged 65 and above, triggered by chronic illness, bereavement & grief, weakening physical capacity, loss of independence, financial worry, and social isolation.

It’s not easy to go through something like a narrowing social circle. We’re sure everyone with grandparents would have heard them mention sometime before that they’re slowly losing all their friends – even if they don’t show it, it’s not something easy to accept.

Thus, it’s good to be mindful of the mental health of our older adults and some geriatricians can provide mood and mental assessments to diagnose depression in older adults. Some common measures to help manage their depression include:

• Group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Interpersonal psychotherapy
• Group life-view/reminiscence therapy
• Antidepressants

Sometimes, introducing them to a more social environment like a care home could be enough. It all depends on each individual’s unique needs.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, this is a little window into the world of geriatricians. We hope this has helped you understand our profession and the kinds of help we can provide older adults. Again, we’re doctors through and through with the extra training to provide care and treatment for older adults, which means we do see patients younger than 60 as well.
If you have any inquiries about geriatrics or would like to book an appointment with our geriatrician, you may book an appointment here for us to visit you right at home.