Iatrogenia e qualidade de vida na terceira idade

Abstract

Aging is common process that begins with birth and continues through all stages of life. Although there is no one specific moment that defines a person as elderly, the age of 60 has traditionally been associated with this phase of life by signaling the moment when, in industrialized societies, people generally stop the work force. Every stage of life has its own peculiarities with regard to health, this is no different with the person of old age, due to progressive deterioration of vitality and the emergence of diseases, the elderly need more individualized attention to health, while the Health Strategy Family (ESF), the planning of actions of promotion and prevention to address this portion of the population. Therefore, it is necessary that the health staff of the ESF is to act so as to contribute to the prevention of harm to health of the elderly. Given this context made it to the following questions: such as health worsens in the aging process? What is the concept of iatrogenic? How to promote quality of life to the elderly population in ESF? To answer these questions a survey was conducted bibliographic type narrative. The literature indicates that prevention is particularly important in the elderly, given the physiological reduction of functional reserve and its consequent increased risk of iatrogenic - including pharmacology. Since, the iatrogenic and multidrug, prevalent in the elderly, resulting in the incidence of more than one chronic disease, identify signs of interaction between drugs and adverse effects; reference for medical care for setting priorities, promoting information on the risks of self-medication in individual assistance, group activities and home visits, and, offering actions that can replace the need for more drugs are important actions of the FHS for disease prevention and health promotion.