Prevention and treatment of pneumonia in the elderly.doc

 PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 13 Prevention and treatment of pneumonia in the elderly [Keywords:] predisposing factors, prevention and treatment elements of senile pneumonia Pneumonia is a common disease, senile elderly, accounting for the elderly 54% of infectious diseases. With the aging of our population is the elderly pneumonia in hospitalized patients account for an increasing proportion of large, including, surgical prevalent. Nosocomial Pneumonia (Nosocomial pneumonia, NP) is the most common hospital infections, the elderly the incidence of NP to be 10 times higher than other adults, their fatality rate can be as high as 50%, pneumonia in people over the age of 65 causes of death in the first place. In this paper, the elderly pneumonia risk factors, clinical features, prevention and treatment to do a review. A susceptibility factor 1.1 Senile glands due to upper respiratory tract mucosa and atrophy, mucus, saliva secretion decreased mucous membrane - mucus defense function of the system down easily in the upper respiratory pathogen colonization and reproduction, as the etiology of pneumonia in the elderly conditions [1]. Swallowing reflex is to prevent foreign matter into the lower respiratory tract of an important defense mechanism. The elderly due to the decline of brain activity in case of foreign body swallowing movements occur when the time was significantly longer than the young. Therefore, the upper respiratory tract pathogens was significantly higher than the incidence of aspiration of young people [2,3]. At present the view that all healthy adults during sleep occur in both the inhalation, but the normal cough reflex and mucus - ciliary transport function can be discharged quickly inhaled foreign body, maintaining the lower respiratory tract clean. The elderly significantly attenuated these two functions. As the age increases, the barrel into the thorax, resulting in hypoventilation; small airways around the elastic fibers decrease in wall elastic