Age Management Program- Wellbeing / Wellness

What is an age management program?

An age management program aims to focus on improving a patient’s overall health and helping prevent problems that can arise with age. A program is usually designed as part of age management medicine.

Who are the doctors involved in age management programs?

Age management physicians specifically focus on assessing patients for disorders and problems associated with aging.

When to seek help from age management professionals

While it is useful to maintain healthy habits at any age, after 45, a person often begins aging faster. At this stage, it would be wise to start thinking about an age management program and start taking precautions to better safeguard your health.

What does an age management program encompass?

There are a set of stages that should be followed in an age management program.

Assessment steps

1. Patient medical history: It is important to know an individual’s past and current medical problems because this will impact the recommendations made in the age management program.
2. Lifestyle assessment: Lifestyle factors including diet, level of physical activity, unhealthy habits, and stress, impact a person’s health now and in the future. 
3. Physical examination: A thorough examination evaluates the individual’s current physical state.
4. Laboratory tests: Blood tests and imaging tests may be done to evaluate the patient’s medical status.

Some of the methods used in age management medicine are listed and discussed below:

Hormone replacement therapy

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is useful for post-menopausal women who have lower levels of estrogen. It helps with hormone deficiency and also helps reduce skin aging. HRT for men takes the form of testosterone, which can help reduce the chance of bone fractures and may help to increase libido.

Nutrition and nutritional supplements

While proper nutrition is important for all, it is particularly vital as you age. Diets for the elderly may need to be customized depending on the individual because some people have medical conditions that may require a special diet. For instance, those with high blood pressure might need to cut back on their intake of sodium.

• In general, increasing fruits and vegetables can help improve immune system function.
• Low-glycemic index foods are also preferable. These foods raise blood sugar gradually.
• High-glycemic index foods are those that rapidly raise blood sugar levels and may contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

As you age, your body might need some vitamins and minerals in higher amounts. You can find out if you need to alter your diet or take a vitamin or mineral supplement to obtain enough calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 from your doctor or a nutritionist.

Managing stress

High levels of stress are related to the hormone cortisol, which over time, has a detrimental impact on the body.

• Stress affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. What this means is that stress causes the brain to secrete hormones from the pituitary gland that then trigger the adrenal glands to secrete stress hormones.
• Inflammation is linked to stress, which is also related to many diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer.
• Aging is linked to increased inflammatory molecules in the blood; decreasing stress may help reduce this inflammation.

Managing weight

Weight is a significant factor because being underweight or overweight is associated with impaired health.

• Being underweight can increase the odds of problems like osteoporosis because, often, underweight people are malnourished and lack calcium in their diet.
• Being obese results in metabolic syndrome, which is related to faster aging and the development of conditions such as heart disease and insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes is brought on by insulin resistance. Obesity is also linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and osteoarthritis of the knee.

What conditions could be helped by an age management program?

Age-related problems can potentially be addressed by engaging patients in age management programs.

Some illnesses that are age-related include the following:

Cardiovascular disease

It is a fact that heart disease is a major killer worldwide. In older people, it often includes coronary artery diseases and heart valve problems like aortic stenosis.

Hypertension

This refers to high blood pressure above 140 mm Hg systolic and above 90 mm Hg diastolic. Hypertension strains the blood vessels, which raises the risk of a stroke or heart attack

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)

A CVA is a medical term for stroke. Stroke is a disabling and sometimes deadly condition affecting the brain.

Cancer

There are many types of cancer, and some of them become more common as we age. Examples include colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.

Osteoarthritis

This is a degenerative disease associated with aging and certain genetic and lifestyle factors. Obesity raises the risk of osteoarthritis due to increased  load  on the joints.

Osteoporosis

Porous bones are more likely as we age and our hormone levels drop; more common after age 50.

Autoimmune illnesses

The risk for many autoimmune diseases is higher after middle age; illnesses like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis are examples of this.

Glaucoma

This is a disease that leads to vision loss due to optic nerve damage. It is most common in individuals older than 60 years.

Alzheimer’s disease

This is a progressive disease where the nerve cells in the brain deteriorate. It usually appears in people who are over 60 years of age.

References:

• Chiu, C. J., Liu, S., Willett, W. C., Wolever, T. M., Brand-Miller, J. C., Barclay, A. W., & Taylor, A. (2011). Informing food choices and health outcomes by use of the dietary glycemic index. Nutrition reviews, 69(4), 231-242.
• Goronzy, J. J., & Weyand, C. M. (2012). Immune aging and autoimmunity. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 69, 1615-1623.
• Lavretsky, H., & Newhouse, P. A. (2012). Stress, inflammation, and aging. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20(9), 729-733.
• Rinaldi, A. (2004). Hormone therapy for the ageing: Despite the negative results of recent trials, hormone replacement therapy retains enticing promises for the elderly. EMBO reports, 5(10), 938-941.
• Rodgers, J. L., Jones, J., Bolleddu, S. I., Vanthenapalli, S., Rodgers, L. E., Shah, K., ... & Panguluri, S. K. (2019). Cardiovascular risks associated with gender and aging. Journal of cardiovascular development and disease, 6(2), 19.
• Palacios, S., Stevenson, J. C., Schaudig, K., Lukasiewicz, M., & Graziottin, A. (2019). Hormone therapy for first-line management of menopausal symptoms: Practical recommendations. Women's Health, 15, 1745506519864009.
• Yabluchanskiy, A., & Tsitouras, P. D. (2019). Is testosterone replacement therapy in older men effective and safe? Drugs & aging, 36, 981-989.

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