ABSTRACT

Advances in pharmacology throughout the past centuries and, particularly, the recent and rapid advances witnessed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, have contributed to the increase in the number and longevity of elderly persons (Chapter 2). In addition to decreasing mortality from infections and acute medical illnesses in youth and middle age, modern pharmacotherapy has begun to address the causes and treatment of disease and disability in old age, including hypertension, stroke, congestive heart failure, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer.