Older persons are of increasing importance in almost every arena of medical practice. In developed countries people aged 65 years and over constitute 12 to 18 percent of the general population but account for around 30 to 40 per cent of the consumption of health care services. The global increase in total numbers of older persons is astonishing; by the year 2025 there will be more than 800 million people aged 65 years and over in the world, two thirds of them in developing countries.

The older person has a fundamental right to expect and receive high quality medical care including, where appropriate, the application of the most recent technological advances available.

There is a pressing need for more detailed texts that deal comprehensively, and in depth, with particular aspects of medicine in old age.

Medical practitioners in almost all situations encounter a growing proportion of older persons in daily practice, often presenting differently from the standard text-book description of disease and frequently with multiple and complex disorders. Improved information on disease in old age, and education and training in the practice of best medicine in providing care for the older person, is critical at every level.

This book, written by a group of highly skilled and informed practitioners, covers an important and sometimes neglected area of health in old age. Its publication during the 1999 International Year of Older Persons is remarkably timely.