COMPARATIVE VALUES OF STUDIES OF THE 



WHOLE ORGANISM AND OF WHOLE TISSUE; 



GLINICOPATHOLOGICAL TESTS OF AGEING 



R. E. TUNBRIDGE 



Department of Medicine, University of Leeds 



Clinicians, with the possible exception of the paediatricians 

 and the obstetricians, are inevitably concerned with the dis- 

 orders of the aged. Often they are so near in age to their 

 patients that they are unable to make an objective assessment 

 of the changes which might be associated with increasing 

 longevity. The approach of a clinician is essentially individual- 

 istic both from his own and from the patient's viewpoint and 

 has all the bias of such an approach. Nevertheless, the 

 clinician is called upon to assess the effects of heredity, of 

 environment and of disease upon the patient's health, and 

 frequently resorts to ageing as one of the contributory factors, 

 since certain diseases are more prevalent in the aged and they 

 tend to pursue a different course from that followed in 

 younger subjects. Certain pathological changes, e.g. atheroma, 

 arteriosclerosis and cancer which are more prevalent during 

 the second half of life, are often referred to as disorders of old 

 age, yet there is little to justify the vast literature that 

 purports no more than this. 



The physician, and, for that matter the layman, is con- 

 tinually faced with the problem "Why do people die?" 

 Particularly is this the case amongst the elderly. Vital 

 statistics tell us that a certain percentage die from cancer, a 

 certain percentage from arterial disease and a certain percent- 

 age from infection, etc. The relative percentages vary with 

 the age group studied, but this information does not help in 

 deciding the cause of death of an individual. We have all no 

 doubt known octogenarians apparently full of physical and 



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