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Healthy Aging - Call to Action: Promoting healthy behaviors among older adults
Call to Action: Promoting healthy behaviors among older adults
The current gap between life expectancy and healthy life, reflected in quality
of life and the ability to carry out desired daily activities, can be narrowed.
Research shows that simple behavioral changes can improve the health condition
of older adults.(1) These improvements in health can be achieved through a
combination of practicing healthful behaviors, effectively identifying disease
and health risks early and getting them treated, and managing chronic
conditions. An important way to promote healthy behaviors among older adults is
to improve patient-provider communication and to provide time for counseling
and referral regarding lifestyle modifications, so that older adults can adopt
or maintain these behaviors. To reach these goals, providers need time to
provide counseling and readily access to community resources from the public
health and aging services networks on lifestyle interventions. In particular,
older adults with disabilities such as vision problems and literacy
difficulties require special attention. Many of these challenges could be
addressed through general systems improvement recommended for primary care,
improved communications and identification of community resources.(2)
References:
Fries JF. Measuring and monitoring success in compressing morbidity. Annals of
Internal Medicine 2003;139:455–459.
Stone EG, Morton SC, Hulscher ME, et al. Interventions that increase use of
adult immunization and cancer screening services: a meta-analysis. Annals of
Internal Medicine 2002;136:641–651.
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