Of proverbs and prevention: aspiration and its consequences in older patients

Abstract

According to an African proverb, ‘there are two things over which you have complete dominion, authority and control—your mind and your mouth’. Geriatricians are fully aware that in many of their patients the first half of the proverb may, at least temporarily, not apply. The current edition of Age and Ageing contains two original contributions which, especially when taken in conjunction, may challenge our perception and practice relating to the second half, and in particular to prevention of upper respiratory infection in the frail hospitalised or institutionalised older person.