Clinical and cytologic characteristics of allergic rhinitis in elderly patients.

Background: The constant increase in the elderly population worldwide has led to a greater interest in immunologic responses during aging. Thus, special attention to allergic diseases in elderly people has begun to emerge, but little is known about the effect and features of allergic rhinitis in elderly people.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and cytologic characteristics of respiratory allergy and its impact on the quality of life in elderly people.

Adverse drug reactions as the cause of emergency department admission: focus on the elderly.

The use of medications could be responsible of both side effects and adverse drug reaction (ADR). Identifying risk factors could improve the possibility of avoiding severe reactions in old people. We investigated the prevalence of unpredictable drug adverse reactions among patients admitted to the emergency departments (EDs) of three large Italian hospitals in the period 2005-2008.