In the last two years, a wealth of new information has accumulated regarding both clinical and research aspects of health care for the elderly. Although many controversial issues have been resolved, many still remain. Volume 2 of Contemporary Geriatric Medicine is once again dedicated to the clinician who cares for the elderly on a continuing basis. Although, for the most part, general topics first introduced in Volume 1 have been retained, all infor- mation in this volume is new and represents the current state of the art. In addi- tion, several new topics-including falls, interpretation of laboratory data, and oral health care-have been introduced to enhance this volume's usefulness to the busy clinician. Through these easy-to-read essays, we attempt once again to keep the non- geriatrician abreast of the current state of the art regarding the special needs and problems of the elderly. Each chapter is not meant to be an exhaustive review of all topics in the field, but rather to focus on issues receiving a great deal of atten- tion. Our goal is to create an exciting approach to contemporary issues in gerIatric medicine.