[Hospitalized aged patients as a social problem. Preliminary study]

Hospitalisation of an aged person is undertaken for various reasons, partly medical, and partly (even primarily in some cases) social. Exaggerated hospitalisation can upset the functional efficiency of a hospital. In some instances, admission itself may be the cause of serious psychophysical deterioration. An investigation of 40 aged patients successively admitted to a hospital department was carried out to identify the medical and social factors responsible for the above-mentioned phenomena. The preliminary results appear to suggest that geriatric hospital 34 departments are almost solely peopled by subjects belonging to the lower social classes, and that both autochthonous and immigrant aged women and culturally ostracised subjects are exposed to the greatest risk.