Introduction
Pneumonia is a very common infectious disease occurring in old age. In industrialized countries it is considered the most deadly infectious disease. This is mainly due to the high complication and mortality rate of pneumonia in old age.
If the disease is detected in time, it should be treated in hospital because of the dangers. The prospects for recovery are good. With a later diagnosis, the complication rate increases and the prognosis for those affected worsens.
This is how pneumonia in old age differs from that of a young person
The biggest difference in pneumonia in old age as opposed to a young person is the susceptibility to the disease. For example, the immune system is much more pronounced in young people, so they are much less likely to develop pneumonia. At the same time, they are better able to fight the pathogen.
As a result, far fewer complications occur and the pneumonia often heals faster. The severe courses with fatal consequences are also much less common in young people than in older people. All these differences are due to the fact that the young body can fall back on considerably more energy and strength reserves than the old body. The symptoms also differ between age groups. In general, one can say that the symptoms become more and more unspecific with increasing age.
Typical symptoms of pneumonia in old age
The typical symptoms of pneumonia are fever, (respiratory) chest pain and cough. However, these symptoms become less pronounced with increasing age. For example, only about half of the people affected by pneumonia have a fever as they get older.
The cough can also be significantly less severe, and chest pain is also less frequent. In contrast, very unspecific general symptoms in particular become stronger. In the case of pneumonia, for example, the appetite deteriorates, affected persons become tired more quickly and are more likely to get out of breath – even if only slight physical exertion is involved.
In addition, symptoms of other organ systems can also occur. The central nervous system, i.e. usually the brain, is particularly affected by this, so that headaches, confusion and restlessness can be noticeable. The gastrointestinal tract can also be affected. This often manifests itself in the form of unspecific abdominal pain, more rarely also nausea. Due to these very general symptoms, which can indicate almost any illness in old age and are sometimes even considered “normal” in old age, pneumonia is often discovered quite late in old age and thus in an advanced stage.
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