Elder Abuse
Date
2015
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Publisher
New England Journal of Medicine
Abstract
Although it has probably existed since antiquity, elder abuse was first described in the medical literature in the 1970s.1 Many initial attempts to define the clinical spectrum of the phenomenon and to formulate effective intervention strategies were limited by their anecdotal nature or were epidemiologically flawed. The past decade, however, has seen improvements in the quality of research on elder abuse that should be of interest to clinicians who care for older adults and their families. Financial exploitation of older adults, which was explored only minimally in the initial studies, has recently been identified as a virtual epidemic and as a problem that may be detected or suspected by an alert physician.
In the field of long-term care, studies have uncovered high rates of interpersonal violence and aggression toward older adults; in particular, abuse of older residents by other residents in long-term care facilities is now recognized as a problem that is more common than physical abuse by staff.2,3 The use of interdisciplinary or interprofessional teams, also referred to as multidisciplinary teams in the context of elder abuse, has emerged as one of the intervention strategies to address the complex and multidimensional needs and problems of victims of elder abuse, and such teams are an important resource for physicians.4,5 These new developments suggest an expanded role for physicians in assessing and treating victims of elder abuse and in referring them for further care.
In this review, we summarize research and clinical evidence on the extent, assessment, and management of elder abuse, derived from our analysis of high-quality studies and recent systematic studies and reviews of the literature on elder abuse. (Author Abstract)
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Keywords
Research Review, Elder Mistreatment, Elder Abuse, Elder Neglect, Older Adults, Older Persons, Seniors, Abuse in Later Life, Financial Exploitation, Financial Abuse, Prevalence, Risk Factors, Trauma, Physical Consequences, Injury, Health Consequences, Impact, Hospitalization, Victims, Survivors, Psychological Consequences, Emotional Burden, Medical Providers, Screening, Detection, Clinicians, Health Professionals, Gaps in Research, Gaps in Knowledge, Multidisciplinary Teams, Interprofessional Teams, Physicians
Citation
Lachs, Mark & Pillemer, Karl. (2015). Elder abuse. New England Journal of Medicine: 373(20), 1947-1956.