Hernias in the Elderly

Abstract

Inguinal hernia is a common problem in the geriatric population, yet publications on this theme are rare. The growing importance of the elderly patients in national health care systems is well documented, but the age group has not been precisely defined; in the literature, the onset of old age may range from 65 to 80 years of age. This causes difficulties in comparing data. We discuss data from a series of 1421 hernias operated on between 1980 to 1990 in a university clinic. Included was a group of 411 patients over 70 years of age, divided into three groups: under 70, 70 to 80, and over 80 years old.