TY - JOUR PY - 2011// TI - Practitioners facing balance disorders in older subjects JO - Revue du praticien, La A1 - Huy, Patrice Tran Ba SP - 820 EP - 822 VL - 61 IS - 6 N2 - As life expectancy keeps increasing, balance disorders in older patients represent a major medical and public health issue, mostly because they are the most important risk factor for repeated falls. The inevitable deterioration of the physiological mechanisms which control balance explains their important prevalence and their often multifactor nature. A multidisciplinary approach should thus be adopted. However, during physical examination, practitioners can and must identify the general causes (polymedication, metabolic or cardiovascular diseases, etc.), take certain simple environmental actions and, most importantly, look for risk factors for falls. Falls are indeed the first complication of balance disorders and represent a frequent cause of mortality, loss of independence and high institutionalization and, as such, have serious socioeconomic consequences. Any balance disorder in older subjects thus requires in-depth examination and quick medical management.

Language: fr

LA - fr SN - 0035-2640 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -