Modern view on the age-associated gastrointestinal diseases. Review

The substantial improvement of diagnostic methods, treatment and preventive measures in recent years resulted in the significant increase in life expectancy, which in turn contributed to an increase in the frequency of chronic noncommunicable diseases among elderly patients. Pathological conditions that are related to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are an extremely common reason for consultations among patients of all ages, but the elderly people are most prone to the development of GI diseases. Available information regarding which GI changes are normal in older age and which ones are pathologic is limited, and the available data is usually contradictory. The diagnostic algorithm in elderly patients with GI symptoms is even more complicated by the frequent presence of concomitant diseases. In addition, the elderlies usually have atypical manifestations of the GI disease with subtle symptoms; therefore, doctors who are not familiar with It may not diagnose the disease timely. Drug side effects manifested in the GI tract are also a common phenomenon in elderly patients and they can also change the clinical picture and complicate the diagnosis of GI pathologies. Thus, elderly patients represent a population group among whom effective detection and correct diagnosis of GI diseases become extremely difficult for physicians who are not familiar with the features of age‑related changes in the GI tract and peculiarities of GI diseases. Therefore, the expansion of knowledge about the course of GI disorders in this category of patients is absolutely necessary for further improvement of the quality and duration of life of such patients. Our review presents modern data on the prevalence of gastrointestinal tract pathologies, their role in the general morbidity of the population, the most typical disorders of the gastrointestinal tract in elderly patients, the mechanism of drug interactions and side effects of drugs that can cause the development of complications from the GI tract. 
 