Cancer Prevention and Screening for Older Adults

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Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary

Improved cancer screening and treatment, along with much lower rates of tobacco use, have led to a decrease in cancer diagnoses and deaths. However, because the risk for many cancers increases as people age, it is still the second most common cause of death in older adults after heart disease.

Cancer prevention is important for older adults in order to reduce deaths and prevent the poor quality of life that can be caused by advanced cancer and treatment side effects. Efforts focus on preventing cancer as well as identifying the disease in its early stages by using screening tests. When someone is diagnosed with an early-stage cancer, they are likely to require less extensive treatment and have a better chance for recovery.

Recently, a research team offered new information and guidance for healthcare providers about cancer screening and prevention for older adults. They published their guidance in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. According to the researchers, healthcare practitioners need to fully understand how a particular cancer will impact an older adult. They also need to consider the effectiveness, drawbacks, and expense of cancer prevention and screening. Finally, health care practitioners need to understand how well a person will fare—with and without cancer treatment—when they discuss cancer screening with older adults. Continue reading →

Does Having Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Affect Severity of Delirium?

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Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary

Forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, gradually affect your cognitive function by harming your memory and your ability to think and make decisions. By 2050, experts project that 13.8 million older adults in the United States will develop Alzheimer’s disease and related Dementias (ADRD). Although Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, other forms include Lewy Body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia—all of which have upsetting consequences for people with dementia and their families.

Since no cure or treatment yet exists for ADRD, healthcare providers currently focus on preventing the treatable risk factors that can lead to dementia. This strategy could potentially slow the onset and progression of ADRD.

Hospitalization poses risks to people with ADRD and can have life-threatening consequences, including predisposing us to delirium (the medical term for a rapid change in mental state, often marked by confusion), a decline in mental or physical function, being admitted to long-term care facilities, and even death.

In particular, delirium can worsen the course of an illness, quicken physical and mental decline, lengthen hospital stays, and cause higher rates of hospital re-admission and death. One in 8 hospitalized people with ADRD who develops delirium will have at least one serious problem, including cognitive decline, possibly leading to admission to long-term care or death.

Here’s the good news: Experts say 30 to 40 percent of delirium cases are preventable. But until now, we have not studied how delirium and its severity affect hospitalized older adults with and without ADRD. Continue reading →

When You’re 84…What Should Life Look Like as We Age?

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Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary

Have you thought about what you’d like your life to look like when you’re 84?

 When a leading health system leader put that question to Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD, Director, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lipsitz published an essay in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that outlined his thoughts. What follows is a summary of his essay, titled “When I’m 84: What Should Life Look Like in Old Age.” 

Knowing that I am a geriatrician, an esteemed health system leader once asked me: “What would you like your life to look like in old age?” I immediately listed the top contributors to a healthy longevity: Regular exercise, a well-balanced diet, a sense of purpose, social and family connections, intellectual stimulation and preventive health care.

However, many of us have trouble meeting these goals for various reasons. While we all hope to live long, productive lives, the field of geriatrics is more focused on achieving a long “health span,” in which we’re free of disease and disability, cognitively intact, and socially engaged. Since social factors account for most poor health outcomes, we need to help older adults address healthy longevity in our environment, our homes, communities, and lifestyles.

Here’s what I envision: Continue reading →

Don’t Let Social Isolation Keep You from Being Active

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Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary

By now, we’re all aware that COVID-19 is especially dangerous for older adults—the older you are, the higher your risk for serious illness and even death if you contract the virus. Because there is no treatment or a vaccine yet, it’s vitally important that we practice social distancing and wear masks to protect ourselves from disease.

But as we work to keep ourselves safe, we also need to be sure we’re not falling into physical inactivity. When we cut ourselves off from shopping, walking in malls, and going to the gym and other places where we can exercise, we can become sedentary. Older adults who don’t get regular exercise may become prone to chronic diseases, weakened muscles, and frailty.

Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil recently reported on the dangers of physical inactivity for older adults during COVID-19. Their paper was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Continue reading →

Staying Safe as Your City Reopens: Friends and Neighbors May be Resuming Their Regular Activities—Should You?

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Cities and counties across the country are beginning to ease or even end the regulations that closed stores, restaurants, businesses, services, and schools back in March 2020. But adults 65 years and older and those with chronic health conditions are still at high risk for contracting COVID-19 and facing its most serious complications, including death.

If you have underlying medical conditions, particularly if they are not well controlled, the CDC suggests that it’s wise to continue to maintain the highest level of vigilance about going out and resuming your regular activities. Some of the specific underlying health conditions noted by the CDC include:

  • Chronic lung disease
  • Moderate to severe asthma
  • Serious heart conditions
  • Being “immunocompromised”
    • People who are immunocompromised have a reduced ability to fight infections and other diseases.  Many things can cause a person to be immunocompromised, including cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications.
  • Severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 40 or higher)
  • Diabetes
  • Chronic kidney disease and undergoing dialysis
  • Liver disease

You can’t reduce your chances of contracting COVID-19 to zero. But if you understand the risks and use proven prevention measures, you may be able to help reduce the spread of the virus.

KEEP IN MIND: If you have COVID-19, have COVID-19 symptoms, or have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, you must stay home and away from other people. Talk to your healthcare provider about your specific precautions. When you can leave home and see others depends on different factors for different situations. Follow the CDC’s recommendations for your circumstances.

Here is the CDC’s science-based guidance for the best way to protect yourself as you begin to resume daily activities:

Continue reading →