Geriatric care in European countries where geriatric medicine is still emerging.

PURPOSE: Practicing geriatric medicine is a challenging task since it involves working together with other medical doctors while coordinating a multidisciplinary team. Global Europe Initiative (GEI) group within the European Geriatric Medicine Society gathers geriatricians from different regions where geriatrics is underrepresented or still developing to promote initiatives for the advancement of geriatric medicine within these countries. METHODS: Here we present a first effort to describe several aspects that affect practicing geriatric medicine in five different countries: Greece, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, and Tunisia. RESULTS: We can notice discrepancies between countries concerning all dimensions of geriatrics (recognition, training, educational and professional standards, academic representation, working context). CONCLUSIONS: These differences correspond to the specificities of each country and set the frame where geriatric medicine is going to be developed across Europe. EuGMS with GEI group can provide useful support.

Late-onset primary antiphospholipid syndrome in the elderly: a report of seven cases.

AIM: We describe the clinical profile of elderly with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). METHODS: Charts of seven elderly patients diagnosed with APS between 1996 and 2012 were retrospectively assessed. RESULTS: The mean age at diagnosis was 77 ± 6 years (67-84 years). Two patients had experienced frequent miscarriages. Five patients presented with deep venous thrombosis of the lower limb, one had venous thrombosis of the upper limb and brachiocephalic vein and another had a cerebral ischemic stroke. The antiphospholipid antibodies tests revealed the presence of significant amounts of anticardiolipin antibodies, 12 weeks apart, twice in four patients. The antibodies to ß2-glycoprotein 1 were positive twice in two patients and lupus anticoagulant in one of these. All patients were treated with heparin and long-term anti-vitamin K and thrombosis was cleared in all cases. Two patients presented with bleeding complications: hematuria and hematoma of the buttock in one patient and rectal bleeding in another case. Two elderly developed a colon cancer and lymphoma 1 year later. CONCLUSION: In this report, we report on primary APS in the elderly, to discuss its prevalence and the clinical significance of positive antiphospholipid antibodies in subjects over the age of 65 years.