Toward a geriatric approach to patients with advanced age and cardiovascular diseases: position statement of the EuGMS Special Interest Group on Cardiovascular Medicine

European Geriatric Medicine volume 11, pages 179–184 (2020)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 29 January 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are highly prevalent in older adults and represent a major geriatric health-care concern. Management of CVD in older patients may be challenging due to specific geriatric issues, such as frailty and multi-morbidity, which may influence patients’ outcomes. In this clinical context, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies should target those outcomes that have higher priority in geriatric health care, including disability prevention and quality of life. Older adults with CVD should be offered a reasonably optimized treatment, customized to the individual’s frailty level and functional status. Yet, most clinical trials excluded comorbid and frail patients and evidence to support CVD management in this vulnerable population is lacking. Therefore, a geriatric approach is needed in cardiovascular medicine, characterized by a holistic, patient-centered perspective focusing on functional status and quality of life. With a view to promote the geriatric approach in the management of older patients with CVD, the EuGMS Special Interest Group (SIG) on Cardiovascular Medicine was founded in 2018, consisting of a network of geriatricians with an extensive expertise in geriatric cardiovascular medicine. The present position paper aims to present the Cardiovascular SIG and illustrate its main purposes and action programs.

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Change history

  • 09 December 2020

    Francesco Mattace-Raso’s name has been corrected.

  • 29 January 2021

    The original version of this article, published on December 14, 2019, contained a mistake.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Geriatric Intensive Care Medicine, Hypertension Centre, Syncope Unit, University of Florence and Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50139, Florence, Italy

    Andrea Ungar, Giulia Rivasi & Stefano Fumagalli

  2. Department of Geriatrics, Ghent University Hospital, and Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Mirko Petrovic

  3. Department of Geriatrics Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland

    Andreas Schönenberger

  4. Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Universidad Europea and Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

    Manuel Martínez-Sellés

  5. Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland

    Jerzy Gasowski & Tomasz Grodzicki

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Gülistan Bahat-Ozturk

  7. Section of Geriatric, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Città della Salute e della Scienza, Molinette, Turin, Italy

    Mario Bo

  8. Research Unit on Aging, AGAPLESION Bethesda Clinic Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Dhayana Dallmaier

  9. Russian Clinical and Research Center of Gerontology, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia

    Yulia Kotovskaya

  10. CNR Aging Branch, Aging Program National Research Council, Padua, Italy

    Stefania Maggi

  11. Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Francesco Mattace-Raso

  12. Medizin des Alterns und des alten Menschen, Klinische Altersforschung Oberärztin, Klinik II für Innere Medizin, Universitätsklinik Köln, Cologne, Germany

    Maria Cristina Polidori

  13. Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, Academic Department of Geriatric Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Raj Rajkumar

  14. University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Timo Strandberg

  15. Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Timo Strandberg

  16. Heart Center Trier, Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder, Trier, Germany

    Nikos Werner

  17. Geriatric Department and Federation Hospital-University on Cardiovascular Aging (FHU-CARTAGE), University Hospital of Nancy, Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Athanase Benetos

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  1. Andrea Ungar
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  2. Giulia Rivasi
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  3. Mirko Petrovic
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  14. Francesco Mattace-Raso
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  18. Nikos Werner
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  19. Athanase Benetos
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From the EuGMS Special Interest Group on Cardiovascular Medicine

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Correspondence to Andrea Ungar.

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Ungar, A., Rivasi, G., Petrovic, M. et al. Toward a geriatric approach to patients with advanced age and cardiovascular diseases: position statement of the EuGMS Special Interest Group on Cardiovascular Medicine. Eur Geriatr Med 11, 179–184 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-019-00267-0

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Keywords

  • Cardiovascular diseases
  • Older adults
  • Frailty
  • Geriatrics