Parkinsonism may be diagnosed too freely in elderly patients
Failure to realize that not every elderly person suffering from tremors is afflicted with parkinsonism may be all too widespread in the medical profession.
This tendency to misdiagnose the condition can have serious consequences, according to J. L. Silversides, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto.
"Nowhere in medicine is the appropriate use of drugs more important than in... the geriatric patient and his aging brain," Dr Silversides told a symposium on geriatrics at the recent Quebec meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. "Unfortunately, experience has shown that misdiagnosis does commonly happen with elderly patients who consequently receive inappropriate drug regimens resulting in a variety of drug reactions."
His assertions are based partly on a study of 2,915 residents of eight Toronto Metropolitan Homes for the Aged. The investigators were concerned basically with the
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
