TOO OLD FOR WHAT

Stage An 87-year-old independent and active woman with no known heart or pulmonary disease went to see her physician because she had shortness of breath. Response The two most common causes of shortness of breath in this age group are pulmonary disease and cardiac disease. In the pulmonary category, I would worry that she had pneumonitis or an interstitial process such as pulmonary fibrosis. In the cardiac category, I'd be concerned about left ventricular failure secondary either to coronary artery disease or to hypertensive heart disease. Dyspnea could also be a manifestation of valvular heart disease. Patients in this age… © 1993, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.