Operation in the Aged

THE AGING trend in the population of the United States is well documented in Bureau of the Census reports. In 1900, 3.1 million people, 4.1% of the population of the United States, were 65 or above.¹By 1960, this had risen to 16.7 million (9.2%). In 1965, 18.1 million (9.3%) were estimated to be 65 or over.²Although the rate of increase is expected to diminish, by 1980 it is estimated that 23.1 million (9.2%) people will be age 65 or above.²,³This is a substantial number of older citizens. Public Health Service statistics⁴indicate 11.5% of patients discharged from hospitals in the United States from 1958 to 1960 were age 65 and above. With Medicare this figure may well rise sharply. During calendar year 1965, 34.3% (figure supplied by Registrar Division, Central Office, Veterans Administration, Washington, DC) of patients discharged from all hospitals of the