This editorial refers to ‘Management and 6-month outcomes in elderly and very elderly patients with high-risk non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes: The Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events’, by G. Devlin et al., on page 1275^.

In the well developed countries of the world, ischaemic heart disease is the prevailing cause of death among patients aged >65 years.¹ In Europe, more than in other countries in the world, we will witness during the next few decades a dramatic surge of patients with ischaemic heart disease due to the progressive ageing of our population.² Because of the continuing increase in life expectancy, many of these patients with ischaemic heart . .