The team that composes the Geriatric Service at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition “Salvador Zubirán” (INCMNSZ) kindly welcomes you to its microsite within the main Institute’s page, as part of the official Ministry of Health’s website.
The population’s accelerated rate of aging, in addition to the epidemiological change in which chronic degenerative diseases will increasingly prevail over time, will eventually lead to a shift in demand of health services. Said phenomenon is expected to happen in a not-so-distant future.
In the year 2010 there were almost 10 million elderly individuals in Mexico. This data reflects all the effort made on prevention of infectious diseases, better treatment strategies and management of chronic maladies, as well as better health conditions for the population in general. Mexicans doubled their life expectancy last century and the accelerated growth of this age group poses new challenges for many systems.
Even though Mexicans now live longer than a hundred years ago, a rise in life expectancy does not necessarily mean superior health conditions or better quality of life. Aging is a phenomenon in which the likelihood of illness, disability, and death increase.
During the last 10 years, approximately 3,000 patients aged 70 years and older have been admitted to our Institute per year. Nowadays, more than one third of all the patients seen at the Institute are elderly.
Prevention and timely diagnosis of health issues in the elderly patients as well as the creation of novel strategies to modulate their morbidity, disability, and mortality in this age group is the main goal of the geriatric attention offered at the Institute. Faithful to the pillars that support INCMNSZ for more than 20 years, our geriatric medicine service maintains the tradition once spread by Salvador Zubirán and is committed to offer Assistance, Teaching, Service and Research of excellence, just the way it is stated in the mission of our Institution.
“The growth of the elderly population presents new challenges in health systems and social support networks in many developing countries, where populations are becoming older before richest...” A. Kalache.