[Endocrine changes, endocrine diseases in the elderly]

The population of the world, the life expectancy at birth and the proportion of elderly in the population increase irreversibly. This trend seems irreversible and has significant importance in healthcare. The endocrine and metabolic diseases’ prevalence is disproportionately higher in elderly people. Their pathophysiological properties also highly differ from younger counterparts, resulting in altered morbidity patterns. The hypopituitarism, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, insufficiency of adrenal glands, different types of hypogandism and malignant endocrine diseases appear more frequently in old people. It should be highlighted that distinct hormonal laboratory findings in the elderly are normally lower than standard ones. It is an important factor to take into consideration the capability of this age-group during disease treatment to get optimal result. During the gradual education of endocrinology and internal medicine, the highlighting of the alteration of old people should be more focused. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(2): 51–58.