Featured Archives - Better Health While Aging

COVID & Aging Adults: 2022 Updates

Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, COVID has become one of the top causes of illness and death in the US, and has especially impacted aging adults, for both health and social reasons.

Older age is one of the top risk factors for severe COVID; it’s even a stronger risk factor than vaccination status. So this is an important issue for us to follow in geriatrics.

On this page, I’ll be posting updates related to COVID and older adults, for 2022. I’ll be focusing on important developments and what I think is most important for older adults and their families to know, to be safer and manage these COVID times we are living through.

I also have a section below on general COVID safety principles for older adults, which I am pretty sure will hold true throughout this year…even as the COVID situation evolves.

Latest Updates:

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Cognitive Impairment in Aging: 10 Common Causes & 10 Things the Doctor Should Check

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH 87 Comments

Have you been worried about an older person’s memory or thinking abilities?

Maybe your parent has seemed more confused recently. Or you may have noticed that your aging spouse is repeating herself, or struggling to do things that didn’t use to pose much of a problem.

These are very common concerns, and they often lead to questions such as:

Is this normal aging or something more significant?
What is wrong?
Could this be Alzheimer’s? Or some other form of dementia?
Can this be treated or reversed?
What should we do about this??

The answer to the last question is this: if you are worried about memory or thinking, then you should seek out some kind of medical evaluation.

That’s because when families worry about an older person’s cognitive abilities, there often are some underlying health issues affecting the mind’s function.

Those need to be detected, and treated if at all possible. So, you’ll need to request help from a health professional, and in this article, I’ll explain what that initial help should consist of. This way you’ll know what to expect, and what the doctor might ask you about.

Technically, these kinds of problems are called “cognitive impairment.” This is a broad term that means some kind of problem or difficulty with one’s memory, thinking, concentration, and other functions of the conscious brain, beyond what might be expected due to normal “cognitive aging.”

(For more on “cognitive aging” and what types of changes are considered normal aging, see this article: 6 Ways that Memory & Thinking Change with Normal Aging, & What to Do About This.)

Cognitive impairment — which is also called “cognitive decline” — can come on suddenly or gradually, and can be temporary or more permanent. It may or may not keep getting slowly worse; it all depends on the underlying cause or causes.

In this article, I’ll share with you the more common causes of cognitive impairment in older adults.

I’ll then share a list of 10 things that should generally be done, during a preliminary medical evaluation for cognitive decline in an older adult.

You can also watch a subtitled video version of this information below.

Common causes of cognitive impairment in older adults

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Is Your Aging Parent OK?
What to check & how to talk about it

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH 5 Comments

Have you been getting worried about your aging parent, or wondering if they are ok continuing to live as they are?

Maybe they’ve been mostly okay but now you’re spotting some problems with memory, such as forgetfulness or asking the same questions repeatedly. Or maybe you’ve noticed trouble with driving, keeping up the house, managing stairs, or paying bills.

Some aging parents simply begin to seem more withdrawn. Others start leveling accusations at others, claiming someone took or moved something, or acting paranoid.

When families notice these types of changes, it’s often really hard to know what to do next. How do you know if they really need help or not, and what kind of help to get? And what do you do if they refuse to discuss it, or get mad when you bring it up?

Since this is such a common dilemma for families, I’ve recorded a video, explaining exactly what you can do, if you’ve noticed some worrisome changes in your parent and are trying to figure out what to do next. Here’s how to know if your aging parent needs help, and how to talk to them about your concerns.

This video covers: [Read more…]

6 Steps to Take When Aging Parents Need Help – Even if They’re Resisting

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH 4 Comments

getting aging mother to accept help Have you noticed worrisome changes in your aging parent?

Maybe they’ve been mostly okay but now you’re seeing problems with memory, such as forgetfulness or asking the same questions repeatedly. Or maybe you’ve noticed trouble with driving, keeping up the house, managing stairs, or paying bills.

Some aging parents simply begin to seem more withdrawn. Others start leveling accusations at others, claiming someone took or moved something, or acting paranoid.

For many adult children, these changes lead to mounting questions. What’s wrong? What’s happening? Is it safe for Mom to keep driving? Should Dad live alone much longer?

I think of this as the “uh-oh” stage. It’s a transition no one looks forward to, and most haven’t prepared for: the time when you might have to start helping your aging parent.

And for many, it comes with an added challenge: Most aging parents don’t welcome much help from their adult children. They may see it as interference, or an invasion of privacy.

Some parents might even refuse to accept that they’re having difficulties, despite issues that feel glaringly obvious—and concerning—to you.

By the time you’re noticing changes and have safety concerns, it’s quite possible that you’re right: that your parent does need help of some kind. So how should you best get involved, especially if your attempts to do so have gone poorly in the past?

Well, it’s certainly not easy. These situations are complicated from a medical and eldercare perspective, plus they tend to bring up difficult emotions for older parents and adult children alike.

But I do believe that it’s crucial for families to get involved. It’s not likely to be easy. But it can be easier, if you’re able to learn the better ways to do so—and also what to stop doing. [Read more…]

6 Steps to Better High Blood Pressure Treatment for Older Adults

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH 163 Comments

Have you been concerned about high blood pressure (hypertension)? Or are you worried about an older relative having a stroke or heart attacks?

You’re not alone. After all, hypertension is the most common chronic condition among older adults, and medications for blood pressure (BP) are among the most commonly taken drugs in the US.

Even more important: poorly controlled hypertension is a major contributor to the most common causes of death and disability in older adults: strokes, heart attacks, and heart failure.

So it’s certainly sensible for older adults – and for those helping aging parents – to think about blood pressure.

And once you start thinking about high blood pressure, you’ll probably start to wonder.

Are the blood pressure medications you’re taking enough? Is your blood pressure at the “right” level or should you and your doctors work on changing things?

And what about that major research – the SPRINT trial — that made the news in 2015? (In this study, older adults randomized to aim for a lower BP did better than those who got “standard” BP treatment.)

These are excellent questions to ask, so I’d like to help you answer them.

Now, I can’t provide exact answers on the Internet. But what I can do is provide a sensible process that will help you successfully address these questions.

In this article, I’ll share with you the process that I use to:

Assess an older person’s blood pressure management plan, and
Determine whether we should attempt changes.

If you’re an older adult, you can use this approach to get started assessing your own BP management plan. This will help you to better work with your doctors on assessing and managing your blood pressure.

If you are helping an older relative manage health, you can follow these steps on behalf of your relative. [Read more…]

Latest Updates:

Common causes of cognitive impairment in older adults

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