Senility or senility (thesaurus synonyms: Old age; aging; senile atrophy; senile wasting; senile exhaustion; senile fibrosis; senile frailty; senile heart; senile involution; senile cachexia; senile weakness; senile change; frailty (Engl. Frailty); old age; physical senility; marasmus senilis; physiological senile atrophy; physiological aging; presenility; presbycardia; senescence; senile asthenia; senile atrophy; senile degeneration; senile dysfunction; senile fatigue; senile exhaustion; senile fibrosis; senile frailty; senile cachexia; senile lassitude; senile marasmus; senile tremor; senile weakness; senium; senescence; ICD-10 R54: Senility) refers to the decline of bodily functions and cognitive abilities in old age. This is a natural process.
Senility is a natural aging process. Aging processes are extensive, progressive (advancing), cumulative (increasing), and pathogenic (causing disease). They manifest themselves via biochemical, structural, and functional changes of both genetic and external origin in a variety of metabolic disorders and degenerative phenomena.
The mechanisms of aging can be triggered by factors of endogenous or exogenous nature, and the products of these processes are often the cause and trigger of further processes, which in alternating combinations can lead to highly active and system-wide pathogenic developments. It is this linkage of mechanisms of aging, via chain reactions both within individual systems and across systems, that leads to the phenomenon of aging and the very multifactorial pathogenesis so often seen in diseases of aging and degenerative aging.
An example of a mechanism of aging that is active at all organizational levels of the organism is free radicals, which are both produced as an endogenous byproduct of normal metabolic processes and become the central mechanism of a number of system-wide aging processes as a result of external factors such as toxic (poisonous) environmental stress, noxious agents such as tobacco, alcohol, and coffee, and excessive or defective physical stress in the form of competitive sports and dieting.
These aging processes give rise to senescent cells (aged cells) that cease parts of their function while resisting apoptosis (programmed cell death). They are also referred to as zombie cells. These cells age neighboring cells by secreting (releasing) proinflammatory (inflammatory) cytokines.
Senility can be a symptom of many diseases (see under “Differential diagnoses”).
Course and prognosis: The aging process is a gradual process. However, it can be influenced both negatively and positively by the mechanisms underlying it and by selectively influencing the triggering factors. Thus, in many cases, the mechanisms of aging are controllable in their development and, especially in light of current research developments, are increasingly reversible in terms of their effects. Likewise, many of the signs of aging associated with these processes can be positively influenced in this way. For the family and loved ones, the physical and cognitive decline (fragility; frailty) of the person affected often represents a great burden, while the person himself does not feel the senility. Depending on how advanced the senility is, placement of the affected person in a nursing facility becomes necessary.