Geriatric neurology

We can expect to live long enough to develop multiple disorders and receive multiple medications in the face of shrinking medical resources and changing philosophical approaches to aging. Clinicians will be faced with a rapidly aging and increasingly complex patient population. Neurologic diseases account for over ninety percent of those with severe incapacitation. This article lays the conceptual groundwork for the fundamental issues inherent to geriatric neurology; these issues require special attention when training residents, general practitioners, and specialists.