Not much, about 50 years ago, the average age in our country was 50, whereas today the average life expectancy is 78. There are many reasons for this; environmental conditions, nutrition, protection from infection, etc. as. I think the most important thing is the developments in medical science. As medicine advances, human lifespan is getting longer. I remember it like it was yesterday, in 1977, when I entered the Faculty of Medicine, the mean blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol values of the patients were different.
We used to ask the age of a patient who came to the hospital first; Let’s say he said 70, we would put 1 in front of him and say that your blood pressure is 170, that is, 17 normal among the people. Also, the situation was the same in blood sugar, let’s say we would ask your age, let’s say 60, we would put 1 in front of you, we would say your blood sugar is 160 normal. But is it so now? Guidelines say don’t raise systolic blood pressure above 14.
In recent studies, when it goes above 12, it is said to be careful, at 13 it is said to start taking medication depending on the situation. This is also the case for blood sugar, we say that under 100 is good regardless of age, and we make efforts to bring it to these values with or without medication. Again, the cholesterol value was 280 in the past. Now we accept the normal as 200 and even reduce it to 150 if there is a problem in the veins.
So when we look back, I ask if we were doing wrong, yes, it’s not exactly wrong, but we were doing it incompletely. But according to the conditions of the day, our knowledge was that much, we accepted them as correct according to the conditions of that day. According to today’s conditions, it is wrong or insufficient, as long as we do not stay with old information.
What I mean is that medicine is constantly evolving and we as Doctors have to keep up with this development. With the knowledge of 30 years ago, it is not possible to become a doctor because the most ungrateful profession is a doctor.
Most of the information 30 years ago is wrong or insufficient today, so if you are a Doctor with old information, put your diploma in the drawer and retire for sure.
