Elderly people constitutes a specific group of the population and the proportion of elderly in the population is increasing. This increase causes an increase in a variety of health problems such as chronic diseases. Better life at aging, requires prevention of many chronic diseases. Therefore initiatives should be planned to protect elderly population from these diseases. One of the most important prevention strategies is routine screening. Diseases that can be diagnosed at early stage in the elderly are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, bone metabolism diseases, cognitive dysfunction and nutritional problems. There are some recommended screening programs also for these diseases. The elderly admitted to health institutions should be periodically examined for these diseases. During this examination, increased problems related with aging and their solutions should be explained to elderly and their relatives. In this way, protection of these diseases should be provided and secondary events related with these diseases like disability, dependence or premature deaths can be minimized.
Key words: elderly, early diagnosis, screening Article Language: Turkish English
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