Biology of ageing
Loss of reserve - homeostenosis
- Ageing = progressive loss of physiological reserve across all organ systems, so that resting function is preserved but the response to stress is not
- *Homeostenosis* - the gap between baseline function and the threshold for failure narrows with age
- This, not any single disease, is why a UTI causes delirium and a fall causes irreversible decline
- Distinguish normal ageing from disease - a raised creatinine is disease; a lower GFR at 85 is ageing; dementia is disease, mild slowing of processing speed is ageing
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