The third age--a current issue for the family physician.

Since our birth, we are programmed to experience predetermined stages of life whose passage is inevitable as the passage of time (childhood, youth, adulthood, old age). Although each of these stages of development differs in its specific tasks, the old age seems to be the most burdensome, resulting in significant changes: physical and intellectual decline, major changes in the importance of the professional, marital, parental and social role. One of the main indicators of the quality of life, the average life expectancy increased significantly in the last 3-4 decades and the mankind gained decades of active life in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, one of the goals of medicine has become the prolongation of life, the pursuit of old age, the wish to remain healthy, to be able of physical and intellectual performance and useful in the private and social life. The old age is conditioned by a complex combination of factors: the individual genetic predisposition, the lifestyle of society and the environment, all of which affect the opinions regarding health and subsequently the attitude towards health. The family physician has the social obligation to research and promote health, to fight diseases. The family physician achieves this by researching the aging field and by trying to find solutions to improve the quality of life in the elderly, which is a prerequisite of maintaining the integration of the elderly into family life and society, of preserving the biological and social independence of aged persons. The maintenance of an active private and social life is a method of fighting premature aging associated with infirmity and disease. This action cannot be successful without the active involvement of the elderly and without their acceptance in the society. Aging is a biological process that affects the entire body, following the period of development and it is considered the final stage of biomorphosis.