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Lauretani, F. A New Era for Geriatricians: The "Wave Rider Geriatric School" for Managing Older Persons with Complexity. Advances in Multidisciplinary Geriatric. 2024. doi: Retrieved from https://www.sciltp.com/journals/amg/article/view/508
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Editorial

A New Era for Geriatricians: The "Wave Rider Geriatric School" for Managing Older Persons with Complexity

Fulvio Lauretani 1,2

1 Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy; fulvio.lauretani@unipr.it

2 Cognitive and Motor Center, Medicine and Geriatric-Rehabilitation Department of Parma, University-Hospital of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy

Received: 10 September 2024; Accepted: 19 September 2024; Published: 20 September 2024

Introduction

The Advances in Multidisciplinary Geriatric (AMG) is a gold open-access, peer-reviewed journal that aims to present new approaches to managing older persons with clinical complexity [1] and frailty [2]. Specifically, new multidisciplinary teams such as Oncogeriatrics, Orthogeriatrics, and Neurogeriatrics are emerging, and the journal serves as a platform to facilitate studies in these new directions and disciplines. Moreover, an urgent approach to chronic diseases in older persons is required, not only based on specific disease guidelines but also considering their cognitive and motoric frailty, with potential drug side effects, which may sometimes be counterproductive. The journal is published quarterly online by Scilight Press.

The scope of this journal is to provide a platform for studies implementing treatments for chronic diseases in older persons, not only addressing specific diseases but also considering the interplay with cognitive and motoric frailty [3]. The multidisciplinary teams will focus particularly on the following topics [4–6]:

  • Oncogeriatrics: Publishing studies that explore the effectiveness of treatments for older persons with cancer and frailty.
  • Orthogeriatrics: Encouraging interdisciplinary research that brings together orthopedic surgeons, geriatricians, physiotherapists, and other healthcare professionals to address complex outcomes in older persons with hip fractures and osteoporosis.
  • Neurogeriatrics: Providing insights into innovations in neurodegenerative diseases in terms of diagnosis and treatment.
  • Pharmacology and Drug Safety: Highlighting the development and clinical application of criteria for avoiding drug side effects and using medications based on tailored guidelines.
  • Cardiogeriatrics: Promoting holistic approaches for older persons who are candidates for cardiac surgery.

New disciplines that include comprehensive geriatric assessment to direct strategies for improving the quality of life in older patients are welcome. Overall, a new vision for the treatment of chronic diseases in older persons, including the concepts of cognitive and motoric frailty, is necessary for optimizing their quality of life. In fact, when the condition became complex, patients are often in a sort of “stalemate” of management and the team should indicate “STOP” and “START” drugs [7] that could produce catastrophic disability, with a drastic reduced quality of life.

In this direction a new era of geriatrician, often well prepared and constantly on the “wave rider” of pharmacology, could influence approach of chronic diseases, starting from the initial diagnosis and not only on the end of diseases, for producing a constant improved of functional status of the patients (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. A new vision of the geriatric school.

Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

References

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  2. Kim, D.H.; Rockwood, K. Frailty in Older Adults. N. Engl. J. Med. 2024, 391, 538–548.
  3. Lauretani, F.; Longobucco, Y.; Ferrari Pellegrini, F.; De Iorio, A.M.; Fazio, C.; Federici, R.; Gallini, E.; La Porta, U.; Ravazzoni, G.; Roberti, M.F.; et al. Comprehensive Model for Physical and Cognitive Frailty: Current Organization and Unmet Needs. Front. Psychol. 2020, 11, 569629. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.569629.
  4. Pioli, G.; Lauretani, F.; Davoli, M.L.; Martini, E.; Frondini, C.; Pellicciotti, F.; Zagatti, A.; Giordano, A.; Pedriali, I.; Nardelli, A.; et al. Older people with hip fracture and IADL disability require earlier surgery. J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 2012, 67, 1272–1277.
  5. Taberna, M.; Gil Moncayo, F.; Jané-Salas, E.; Antonio, M.; Arribas, L.; Vilajosana, E.; Peralvez Torres, E.; Mesía, R. The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Approach and Quality of Care. Front. Oncol. 2020, 20, 85. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.00085.
  6. Gaur, A.; Carr, F.; Warriner, D. Cardiogeriatrics: The current state of the art. Heart 2024, 110, 933–939.
  7. Lunghi, C.; Domenicali, M.; Vertullo, S.; Raschi, E.; De Ponti, F.; Onder, G.; Poluzzi, E. Adopting STOPP/START Criteria Version 3 in Clinical Practice: A Q&A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. Drug Saf. 2024. Online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-024-01453-1.