Medicine: For Old Folks

Last week, as Congress discussed changes in the old-age provisions of the Social Security Act (TIME, June 5), U. S. doctors also turned their attention to old folks. Attention-turner was Problems of Ageing,* technical tome on what is technically called geriatrics, which contains the scholarly opinions of 25 experts on the medical and psychological problems of old age. First bang-up work on geriatrics ever published, the book contains an introduction by 79-year-old John Dewey, lengthy articles by such famous scientists as Physiologists Anton Julius Carlson of University of Chicago, Walter Bradford Cannon of Harvard, Nutritionist Clive Maine McCay of Cornell, Anthropologist Clark Wissler of Yale.

Interesting facts:

> One-third of the nation will soon pass the half-century mark. Average life expectancy in the U. S. is now 60 years, and physicians believe it can never be raised above 75. Reason: although cancer and bacterial diseases may eventually be controlled, bones will eventually buckle and warp, arteries will eventually harden. > About half the old people in the U. S. die from diseases of the circulatory system (hardening of the arteries, heart trouble), 12.5% from diseases of the respiratory system (pneumonia, influenza), 12.5% from cancer, 8.5% from kidney disease, the rest from diseases of the digestive system, or accidents. Prime affliction of old age is hardening of the arteries, which throws healthy, durable hearts and kidneys out of kilter, often brings about insanity and may contribute to diabetes.

> Greatest problem of old age: resignation. Contrary to popular belief, old people are far from sexless. The flow of sex hormones does not ebb when men reach their 60s and 70s. Says Columbia's Anatomist Earl Theron Engle, spermatozoa are formed in at least 50% of old men. Bending a Freudian ear to their querulous complaints, Psychiatrist Gilbert Van Tassel Hamilton of Santa Barbara, Calif, offers the opinion that old men & women are no less troubled by sex problems than are the young. Says he: "Many persons . . . who have passed their sixtieth year vaguely feel that it is time they were done with sex as a personal issue." This makes them feel isolated, unattractive, frustrated. Despite Freud's admission that psychoanalysis is applicable only to young, elastic personalities, Dr. Hamilton claims that patient analysis brings peace and equanimity to many an old heart.