Dementia and Psychiatric Emergencies in the Elderly Population

S obzirom na kontinuirano povećanje broja starijih osoba u ukupnoj populaciji u Hrvatskoj, za očekivati je da će se broj starijih osoba s akutnim psihičkim smetnjama koje zahtijevaju hitno zbrinjavanje sve više povećavati. Najčešći psihički poremećaji kod starijih osoba su: depresivni poremećaji, kognitivni poremećaji, demencija, poremećaji vezani uz uzimanje alkohola, poremećaji vezani uz druga zdravstvena stanja i lijekovima izazvani poremećaji. Gerijatrijski bolesnici bi u pravilu prvo trebali biti pregledani od strane stručnjaka somatske medicine (internista, neurologa, kirurga) prije nego što se upućuju u hitnu psihijatrijsku službu, kako bi se ustanovilo da su primarne smetnje iz psihijatrijske domene. Izražena depresija, suicidalnost, agitacija, sklonosti lutanju i ostalim rizičnim ponašanjima kod kuće, izražena anksioznost i smanjena sposobnost brige o sebi, glavni su razlozi hospitalizacije kod ovih bolesnika.Related to the fact of the continuous increase in the number of elderly people in the total population of Croatia, it can be expected that the number of elderly people with acute psychiatric disorders that require emergency care will increase. The most common psychiatric disorders found in the elderly are depressive disorders, cognitive disorders, dementia, alcoholrelated disorders, disorders related to other health conditions and drug-induced disorders. Geriatric patients should, generally speaking, first be reviewed by a psychosomatic medical specialist (internist, neurologist, surgeon) before they are sent to psychiatric emergency services in order to establish that the primary complaint is connected with the psychiatric domain. Pronounced depression, suicidality, agitation, wandering tendencies and other home-based risk behaviours, with anxiousness and reduced self-care ability, are the main reasons for hospitalization