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OBJECTIVES: With advancing age, the degree of dependency and occurrence of great geriatric syndromes (GS), also referred to as geriatric giants, grow substantially. DESIGN: The prospective cohort study was aimed at conducting an analysis and comparison of geriatric syndromes (geriatric giants) among different age groups at admission to the acute geriatric department. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Between 1995 and 2012, we had altogether 12,210 elderly patients at an average age of 80.5 +/- 7.0 y (range 65-103 y) hospitalised at the Department of Geriatrics. We divided the patient set into three different age subgroups (65-74 y; 75-84 y and >= 85 y; e.g. 21.4 %; 47.9 % and 30.7 %) and compared the results among them. RESULTS: 3,787 persons (31.0 %) were without any GS. The growing tendency of the occurrence of all geriatric syndromes in combinations with increased age (p < 0.001) is obvious. Their occurrence in the above mentioned different age sets was examined in relation to individual geriatric syndromes and sex (female and male), namely falls 22.0 %, 27.8 %, 39.9 % and 20.5 %, 27.0 %, 36.1 %; immobility 26.4 %, 29.3 %, 42.5 % and 30.3 %, 30.1 % and 39.2 %; incontinence 38.4 %, 50.6 %, 69.5 % and 38.2 %, 47.4 %, 61.8 %; dementia and cognitive impairment 13.4 %, 23.4 %, 38.1 % and 15.8 %, 24.3 %, 33.2 % respectively. Age cut-off for geriatric syndromes occurrence based on ROC analysis is 83.5-84.5 y for females and 78.5-82.5 y for males. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of geriatric giants increasing with age and female gender is of crucial importance not only for individuals and families but also for demands on costs of health and social care in oncoming decades (Tab. 6, Fig. 3, Ref. 52).
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