Introduction: Age-Attuning Medical Education, Fostering Geriatric Thinking

Abstract

From the demographic perspective, the world population is not only aged (with a global life expectancy of 71.4 years, WHO 2016), but it is also at risk of (or suffering from) multimorbidity and related disability (Table 1.1). The latter are highly prevalent through the third phase of the epidemiologic transition, characterized by reduced mortality rates together with a unique ageing rate of the population. As multimorbidity predicts 5-year mortality and disability, multimorbid subjects must expect to live 12–17 years disabled (Table 1.1).