Is there a standard medical definition of "elderly"?

Question

Medical studies and articles, and prescribing information for drugs, sometimes refer to differential effects in the "elderly".

Is there a standard definition of "elderly" in medical usage? Possibly it's an informal category, just as in normal speech. I'm trying to find out whether it has a precise medical definition.

Note that I'm not looking for guesses. Obviously anyone can guess, and I can guess myself. What I'm looking for instead is whether the word has a precise, generally accepted definition in medicine. If so, I'd like to know what the definition is (what cutoff age or age range).

Thanks.

Answer 1

As a universal concept, a person nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings are being considered as elderly. There is no exact definition for elderly however as its meaning would differ in every society. Someone is considered elderly due to changes in the role in life (becoming granny for instance), someone is said to be elderly after living a certain number of years in life and begin to do less of different work or upon reaching the retirement age.

Generally, everybody is declared to be "elderly" when they reach the ages of 65-70. “Elderly” has been defined as a chronological age of 65 years old or older, while those from 65 through 74 years old are referred to as “early elderly” and those over 75 years old as “late elderly.” Such definition however may change if the definition will be based on all aspects of social, cultural and medical sciences.

Answer 2

Definition Of Elderly

Answer 3

In my trusty old copy of Dorland's Medical Dictionary, "elder" is defined as the plant Sambucus niger and S. canadensis.

Many of us now collecting Social Security and our 401k's are in a bit of denial. Elderly is 10 - 15 years older that we are at present.

Answer 4

The term 'Elder' in a spiritual sense means that a man has lived to the age that normal knowledge has allowed him to be representive of the rest. The anatomy after so many years wears down to where it is slower functioning and moving and so it is refered to as being elderly. This is one of lifes misfortunes since the fountain of youth was never found'

Answer 5

This is a tough, and currently relevant question. This answer is long, but you did ask for specifics. There is no accepted medical definition of addiction. The closest you can come is dependence, which is defined in DSM IV, which I think another reader gave you a link to. I don't expect the definition to change much in the new DSM. The DSM is the standardized manual of diagnostic criteria used by psychiatry, psychology and most behavioral health researchers, practitioners and insurance companies - so it comes as close to a "medical definition" as you can get. That does not mean it is universally accepted, or that there are not definitions of "addiction" out there, but none have the overall acceptance that the DSM enjoys. For example, the ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) obviously feels addiction exists, since they include it in their name, and advocate for a definition of addiction which is clearly a "disease" state. But they are driven partly by their agenda to legitimize their organization, themselves as a medical specialty, and their professional treatment strategies. It is telling that, despite their efforts to forward a definition, it is NOT generally accepted and addiction medicine is recognized not under their auspices, but as a board certifiable sub-specialty of psychiatry, which endorses the DSM. In general, dependence comes from the biological idea that using certain chemicals change the body in a way that the absence of the chemical causes biologic distress. Absence of the chemical is not distressing until the use changes the body. So you are not "dependent on oxygen, since you never were in an oxygen naive state to develop dependence. This definition was broadened slightly in the latest definition in deference to the idea that some chemicals do not cause specific withdrawal, but clearly cause distress in their absence as shown by obsessive and overwhelming desires to obtain the substance. For example, there may not be a true withdrawal from THC, but people, once "dependent" on THC behave as if the are distressed in its absence. The DSM does not recognize "dependence" on behaviors, such as gambling or sex, but does recognize them as compulsive disorders. The words used are important here. "Disorder" implies an abnormality of any kind. Diagnosis (as in DSM) implies a way to categorize something without implying it is a disorder. Pregnancy is a diagnosis, but not a disorder. "Disease" implies a disorder in which there is a relatively clear pathological basis discrete from other diseases which may look similar. This means we know, at least generally, what is wrong with the body (or brain) causing the problem. Disorders where there is not a clear pathology are usually classified as "syndromes" which are collections of signs and symptoms (or behaviors) which occur together in a definable way, but the pathology is not known. The DSM deals in both, but while substance disorders have features of both diseases and syndromes, as of now, compulsive behaviors are syndromes, not diseases. This is one of the reasons the ASAM is struggling for acceptance. Current work on dopamine effects and variable metabolism and basal ganglia pathology may soon give us enough knowledge to start to define when "behavior" has a true pathological base as a disease, or is merely a result of personality style. But we are not quite there. For now, I think most identify the word "dependence" with a desire to avoid distressing effects of withdrawal, rather than the pursuit of pleasure, and "addiction" with the pursuit of a pleasurable activity beyond the societal norm. Heroin would likely lead to both addiction and dependence - but the dependence is medically defined and understood, and the addiction is not so much. As such, "addiction" is the more pejorative term and also has the broader scope to include pleasures like gambling, sex, pornography, eating, running, etc which would not meet a "dependence" definition. This answer reflects my opinion only, not any position of any organization. I will be dissapponted if no-one takes me to task and tells me how wrong I am. I look forward to the soon-approaching neurobiologic understanding of why some people have more difficulty than others controlling pleasurable behaviors, regardless of the label or whether we call it a disease or not; so we can help develop more effective treatments, both medical and behavioral, for people who are genuinely distressed by this.

Answer 6

family doctor's experience

definition depends on each person

my definition is anyone older than 65, which is the age you retire in the US