An elderly female patient is diagnosed with sepsis from a urinary tract infection even though her only presenting symptom was a new onset of incontinence. Which of the following would explain this patient's diagnosis?
1. Older patients do not exhibit typical clinical manifestations and fever might not occur.
2. The patient has been sick for a while but did not want to go for treatment.
3. Older patients are usually confused and the patient did not realize she was ill.
4. Older patients are usually incontinent so the patient must have had other symptoms which she forgot.
1
Rationale: Elderly patients have a change in the body's response to infections. A typical presenting symptom such as a fever might be absent or delayed. Elderly patients also do not have the typical clinical manifestations of disorders. This patient's only symptom of incontinence was the indication that she might be experiencing a urinary tract infection. There is no evidence to suggest that the patient has been sick for a while and did not want to seek help. Elderly patients are not usually confused and elderly patients are not usually incontinent.
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