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Head injury in the elderly – an overview for the physician

Beedham, W; Peck, G; Richardson, S; Tsang, K; Fertleman, M; Shipway, D; (2019) Head injury in the elderly – an overview for the physician. Clinical Medicine , 19 (2) pp. 177-184. 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-177. Green open access

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Abstract

Head injury is a common cause for hospital admission and additionally 250,000 UK inpatients fall during hospital admissions annually. Head injury most commonly occurs as a result of falls from standing height in older adults. Older adults are frequently frail and multi-morbid; many have indications for anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents. The haemorrhagic complications of head injury occur in up to 16% of anticoagulated patients sustaining a head injury. These patients suffer adverse outcomes from surgery as a result of medical complications. Although geriatric trauma models are evolving to meet the demand of an ageing trauma population, medical support to trauma services is commonly delivered by general physicians, many of whom lack experience and training in this field. Determining the role of surgery and interrupted anticoagulation requires careful personalised risk assessment. Appreciation of the opposing risks can be challenging; it requires an understanding of the evidence base in both surgery and medicine to rationalise decision making and inform communication. This article aims to provide an overview for the physician with clinical responsibility for patients who have sustained head injury.

Type: Article
Title: Head injury in the elderly – an overview for the physician
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-177
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-177
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Elderly, trauma, subdural, head injury, intracranial haemorrhage
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute > Research Department of Oncology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10074445
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