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Caring for the Geriatric Combat Veteran at the Veteran Affairs Hospital

  • The Military Perspective (MJ Martin and M Schreiber, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The US population continues to grow older, and their needs pose a challenge to the healthcare system. The nation’s aging veterans are no exception to this trend.

Recent Findings

The geriatric patient is physiologically distinct from younger adults. Geriatric veterans are unique in terms of their social history and the illnesses they risk encountering. Veterans of our recent conflicts will in the decades to come also have their own unique needs as they grow older that are yet to be fully understood.

Summary

In this review, we discuss several conditions that clinicians who care for geriatric veterans may expect to encounter.

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Correspondence to Bishwajit Bhattacharya.

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Conflict of Interest

Drs. Bhattacharya, Pei, Lui, Rosenthal, and Davis declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on The Military Perspective

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Bhattacharya, B., Pei, K., Lui, F. et al. Caring for the Geriatric Combat Veteran at the Veteran Affairs Hospital. Curr Trauma Rep 3, 62–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-016-0068-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-016-0068-5

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