Pain management in the elderly at the end of life.

Background: The treatment of older adults with pain is complex and affected by age-related changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Chronic pain encompasses a complex array of sensory-discriminatory, motivational-affective, and cognitive-evaluative components. Because of this complexity, both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches should be considered to treat pain.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an elderly community: comparison between three diagnostic methods.

Background: The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) has shown wide variation in different studies, depending on the population sample and the diagnostic criteria used. The prevalence of MS tends to be higher with the diagnostic criteria of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Objective: To compare the prevalence of MS using different criteria in an elderly community.