Treatment of lung infections in the elderly

Lung infection is relatively common among the elderly. It may be caused by us not developing good living habits in our lives. Therefore, we recommend that everyone should prevent the causes of lung infection in their lives. A major cause of lung infection in the elderly is the accumulation of waste in the lungs caused by long-term smoking, but it may also be caused by a cold.

The elderly are more susceptible to respiratory infections because of decreased airway barrier function, decreased cellular immunity and specific antibody production ability, and the presence of underlying diseases. The onset of pneumonia in the elderly is insidious, and the clinical symptoms are mostly atypical. There is a lack of typical clinical manifestations, such as cough, sputum, fever, etc. Instead, digestive system symptoms (such as loss of appetite, nausea) and nervous system symptoms (such as dull expression, mental depression, impaired consciousness, coma) are more common as the first symptoms. They are often missed and misdiagnosed as other diseases. The disease progresses rapidly and is prone to complications such as infectious shock, respiratory failure, heart failure, water and electrolyte disorders, and acid-base imbalance.

The swallowing function of the elderly is impaired, and bacteria can easily enter the airway with the swallowed objects and be retained at the base of the lungs due to gravity, causing congestion of the capillaries at the base of the lungs and accumulation of sputum in the small airways, which is conducive to the growth and reproduction of bacteria. Patients with cerebrovascular sequelae and long-term bedridden patients often develop aspiration pneumonia due to repeated misaspiration and are a high-risk group for nosocomial infection.

Because the elderly often suffer from multiple diseases and have long hospital stays, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and glucocorticoids has increased the incidence of nosocomial infections in the elderly year by year, and bacterial resistance has also increased significantly. Therefore, for elderly patients with lung infections, the causative bacteria of the infection should be identified as soon as possible to prevent the abuse of antibiotics. If the condition is serious and it is impossible to wait for the sputum test results or the sputum test has not yet obtained the causative bacteria, antibiotics with strong bactericidal effects or combination drugs can be empirically selected based on the patterns of nosocomial and extra-hospital bacterial infections. Experience shows that third-generation cephalosporin and fourth-generation cephalosporin antibiotics have better antibacterial effects, and nutritional support therapy should be given at the same time to prevent poor control of inflammation, complications such as infectious shock, respiratory failure, heart failure, etc., which may lead to the patient's death.

Patients who are unable to eat and are in a coma should be given a sufficient high-calorie, high-protein, high-vitamin diet through nasogastric feeding, and given intravenous drips of albumin, plasma, amino acids or high-nutrient solution as appropriate to ensure the body's energy supply.

Through this article’s introduction to lung infections in the elderly, we should all know what factors cause lung infections in the elderly. As children, we should pay more attention to these causes of disease so that the health of the elderly can be better protected. At the same time, we should try to avoid the habit of smoking too many cigarettes.