Quaternary Prevention in Geriatric Anesthesiology

Abstract

Anesthesia administration in geriatric patients has always been challenging. Besides, the variable pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, numerous other factors need to be considered for any surgical procedure or during treatment of critically ill geriatric patients in intensive care units. Besides taking care of clinical comorbidities, many other preventive measures are necessary to minimize the morbidity and mortality in this subset of population. The concept of 'quaternary prevention' has recently gained popularity but its application in geriatric population presenting for surgery has been very limited. The current brief review discusses various aspects of quaternary prevention applicable to anesthesia procedures in geriatric patients during peri-operative period.