[Significance of environmental hygiene for aging individuals (author's transl)]

Problems in the field of modern hygiene have changed in parallel with the current shift of morbidity and mortality in the direction of non-infections diseases such as vascular and circulatory disturbances and malignant tumors. As a consequence, hygienic care for the aged is becoming increasingly more important, and with it the close association between Hygiene and the sciences of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Because of long-term, chronic exposure via air, food, and drinking-water, environmental carcinogens such as the P.A.H. and nitrosamines constitute serious health hazards especially in advanced old age. Also, the accumulation in human body fat of biocides of the class of chlorinated hydrocarbons (e.G. DDT) must be considered an alarming finding, since toxic effects may be expected as a result of fat resorption in elderly subjects. Thus, there is a need for the further development and broadening of the field of Gerohygiene as an essential part of General Gerontology.