What is a geriatric syndrome ?

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The conceptualization of geriatric syndromes has been evolving over time (Flacker JM, 2003).

In general terms, a “syndrome” has been defined as “a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality” (Merriam Webster Dictionary) or “the aggregate of symptoms and signs associated with any morbid process, and constituting together the picture of the disease" (Steadman's Medical Dictionary).

Thus, in current medical usage, a syndrome re­fers to a pattern of symptoms and signs with a single under­lying cause that may not yet be known Olde Rikkert MG, 2003).

Geriatric syndromes, by contrast, refer to “multifactorial health conditions that occur when the accumulated ef­fects of impairments in multiple systems render [an older] person vulnerable to situational challenges.” (Tinetti ME, 1995).

Thus, the geriatric usage of the term “syndrome” emphasizes multiple causation of a unified manifestation.