Senile asthenia

What is senile asthenia

Senile asthenia is a syndrome in which there is a decline in strength and a decrease in the functions of many body systems. Because of this, the elderly are more vulnerable and any threat to their health is a serious danger.

– Some people after 75 become very vulnerable in terms of health. And some kind of impact – a cold, a not very serious injury, a small everyday nuisance – leads to a sharp deterioration in health, and then to rapid disability and death. The high vulnerability of a person in the face of some threats from the side of health – this is senile asthenia.

Causes of senile asthenia

— The syndrome of senile asthenia is of two types. The first is a genetically determined type. When people after 80 years old begin to melt before our eyes: gait slows down, memory deteriorates sharply, body weight decreases. We mainly meet the second type of asthenia, when a person becomes more vulnerable due to diseases accumulated with old age: high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, vein pathology, osteoarthritis, joint pathology, cognitive decline, memory, oncological pathology.

In addition, the metabolism in old age is such that an elderly person becomes satiated very quickly, and the feeling of satiety persists long after eating. Decreased appetite can lead to age-related anorexia and further to senile asthenia.

Polypharmacy or taking a large number of drugs daily is another cause of senile asthenia. More than five drugs a day is already a lot, but there are people who take 25-30 tablets a day, including dietary supplements. And some of them they can appoint themselves.

Symptoms of senile asthenia

If an elderly person eats very little and moves less and less, often falls, if his muscle mass has noticeably decreased and cognitive disorders are observed – all this can be a manifestation of senile asthenia. But doctors are in no hurry to make this diagnosis for older people only on this symptomatology.

Diagnostics

– They began to talk about the syndrome of senile asthenia literally 10-15 years ago. This condition is still new, it is being studied, and in terms of diagnostics, it is a state of exception,” says Andrei Ilnitsky. – If, for example, there is a decrease in body weight, we must examine the patient and exclude oncological pathology, chronic heart failure and other diseases. And when we understand that these diseases are excluded, we can diagnose the syndrome of senile asthenia.

We make this diagnosis on the basis of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. There are questionnaires, scales that allow you to identify what conditions a person is vulnerable to. Finding out how a person moves, eats, what mood he has, what cognitive abilities, how he serves himself in everyday life, you can find a bottleneck in the patient’s condition and direct the efforts of doctors there.

As for the analyzes, an increase in the progranulin protein was observed in the syndrome of senile asthenia. It is possible that it will become the first marker of the disease.

Clinical recommendations for senile asthenia

Directly against the syndrome of senile asthenia, there are no drugs yet. Everything is in a state of study, and perhaps someday there will be a drug treatment. Now recommendations for treatment are associated with lifestyle: proper nutrition, physical activity, socialization of a person.

In addition, according to Andrei Ilnitsky, a large analysis of the daily drug therapy of an elderly person and the abolition of drugs that are not essential or can be replaced by physical exercises, physiotherapy, and some ointments are needed. All this leads to an improvement in the condition of the senile patient.

Treatment of senile asthenia

Is it possible to cure the syndrome of senile asthenia? What kind of doctor does this?

This is a reversible syndrome. At least make the severe degree easier. My colleague Kirill Proshchaev and I wrote a book “To be continued” on this topic, where we popularly explained why senile asthenia occurs, and why if a person has become vulnerable, decrepit, this does not mean that everything is over, – Andrey Ilnitsky said. “Geriatricians deal with this problem. The problem is that life expectancy is increasing, there are more and more elderly people, and there are not enough geriatricians. Therefore, the approach is as follows: if a patient is older than 80, but he does not have senile asthenia syndrome, he is assisted by a therapist, a general practitioner, but a patient who has symptoms of this condition (reduced body weight, volume and muscle strength, has depression etc.) is a geriatrician. The syndrome of increased vulnerability – senile asthenia – is the main selection criterion for a consultation with a geriatrician.

In addition, the body, as we have already said, is sometimes not able to digest the amount of drugs that the patient takes daily, both as prescribed by doctors of various profiles, and at his own discretion. Treatment should be coordinated by one doctor to keep the number of tablets to an optimal minimum.

Modern treatments

In pharmacies, you can find nutritional mixtures that help with a lack of body weight in senile people. This is not sports nutrition and not for children. They will not replace food, but will serve as an additional source of protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, fibers, vitamins, and trace elements for debilitated elderly people.

Prevention of senile asthenia at home

– Recommendations for the prevention of senile asthenia syndrome are simple. First, it is necessary to undergo annual medical examinations. With age, each person after 60-65 years old has 6-8 chronic diseases. And in some people, the combination of these diseases leads to the syndrome of senile asthenia, that is, increased vulnerability. If these diseases are treated, they will not reach any pronounced degree, and the syndrome of senile asthenia can be prevented. will not develop. And the earlier the disease is detected, the more successfully it can be treated, the less negative consequences. And three more important components of the prevention of senile asthenia: exercise, nutrition, communication.

Physical exercises

According to the latest WHO recommendations, every free minute should be used for physical activity. And here are four types of exercises that older people should do every day to prevent senile asthenia:

• Aerobic exercise – walking, swimming, running, housework. All that is possible. Only if you have already begun to move, do not stop moving for at least 10 minutes. If less, it does not count as a completed exercise.
• Resistance exercises (twice a week). Again, if possible, these can be exercises with dumbbells, or on simulators, but it is imperative that the muscles work against resistance.
• Balance exercises. The simplest thing is to stand on one leg, then on the second. And you can perform this exercise by simply standing at the sink while washing dishes or at the table while cooking. The Chinese gymnastics Tai Chi perfectly trains the balance, which has no contraindications for age.
• Stretching exercises. Again, these can be elementary actions – stretch, raise your arms up, to the sides, stand on your toes.

Important! Do all of these four groups of exercises and give them a total of at least 150 minutes per week.

Food

The diet of older people should be rich in protein – 1-1,2 grams per kilogram of body weight. Moreover, it should be protein and vegetable, and from meat, fish, cheese. And if in middle age we say that there should not be overweight, then in old age, from the point of view of health, it is better to be overweight than underweight. Because lack of body weight is one of the causes of increased vulnerability, senile asthenia syndrome.

Communication

When studying those regions of the planet where there are many centenarians, it turned out that the most important factor in their long life in good shape is the socialization of older people. They constantly communicate, constantly in business, they are interested in them. A person should not be alone. If a person of age is left alone with his loneliness, this is very bad.

Popular questions and answers

We asked a few questions about senile asthenia geriatrician Andrei Ilnitsky.

Sources:

1. Senile asthenia. Clinical guidelines. All-Russian public organization “Russian Association of Gerontologists and Geriatricians”. 2020 https://static-0.minzdrav.gov.ru/system/attachments/attaches/000/054/893/original/