Serious Health Concerns Missed in Older Adults

A study of 7,609 U.S. Medicare beneficiaries published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society examined the prevalence and effects of pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, breathing difficulty, and sleep problems to determine that almost 50 percent of adults ages 65 and older have two or more of these symptoms, and 20 percent have three or more, reports ScienceDaily . Yet clinicians often overlook these symptoms and the more serious health issues they augur, because beneficiaries only discuss one or more symptoms during a visit. "Our results indicate that the overall burden of symptoms is something the clinician should consider, as it may have an impact that is not apparent when just dealing with diseases and symptoms individually, one at a time," said University of Washington School of Medicine Professor Kushang Patel. "For many older adults, symptoms often interfere with accomplishing daily activities." These findings have spurred the University of California, San Francisco's Lauren Hunt and Alexander Smith to urge more investment in pharmacologic and nonpharmacological interventions and improved training among healthcare workers to address the symptom burden in older adults.