Critical illness in the elderly: review of pathophysiology of aging and outcome of intensive care. J Intensive Care Med

ogy of aging and outcome of intensive a r e. J Intensive Care bled 2001;16:114-127. The goal of this article is to review tlie literature on age and its influence on the pathophysiology of critical illness, outcome after critical illness, and end of life decision making in critically ill elderly patients. Sources for this review in-cluded the AIEDLINE database and bibliographies of original articles, reviews, and book chapters. The population is aging and tlie need for medical care and its costs increase with increasing age. A majority of tlie elderly lead independent lives, although some need help with various functional activi-ties related to daily living. It is difficult to separate the effects of aging from the effects of the coniorbidities that develop with increasing age. The physiologic reserve decreases in the elderly and they may not be able to tolerate a critica