Infuence of co-morbidity in the prognosis of politrauma in geriatric patients

Background In geriatric patients co-morbidity, i.e. the presence of several diseases simultaneously, is frequent, and exerts a decisive influence on elderly patients’ heading progressively towards complete loss of autonomy and exposure to very high risk injury. In the case of trauma and even more of polytrauma, the high level of comorbidity and drug therapies in the elderly, influence the outcome and the approach of medical treatment with important implications for both diagnostic and therapeutic plans. The increasing number of drugs (polypharmacy) required with increasing concomitant diseases (cardiovascular, neurological, musculoskeletal, etc.) stretch to influence the therapeutic response, with side effects that sometimes complicate multiple trauma, making therapeutic strategies particularly complex and difficult to manage.