Health Issues Affecting the Elderly

This article discusses the health issues affecting the elderly population, including hypertension and its risk factors. It explores the impact of these health issues on the overall well-being of the elderly and provides strategies for managing and preventing these conditions. The article also highlights the importance of research, funding, and public awareness in addressing these health concerns.

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Title: Health Issues Affecting the Elderly

According to Thakur, Banerjee and Nikumb (2014), among the great social changes
brought about by the current improvements in living standards is the aging population, with
the elderly though to outnumber the 14 year old children come the year 2050. In the
developed nations, there is a vast population of the elderly, though good health in the old age
is correlated with a person’s age during their later ages. Intrauterine growth issues are linked
with risks of diabetes and circulatory system complications in the old ages. Obesity among
children increases risks of contracting chronic infections such as cancer, CVDs, respiratory
disorder and other diseases in the old age. Most developing nations have issues with
malnutrition and obesity among the young generation. The effect of these phenomenon would
manifest itself in the children’s old age in a series of non-communicable infections (WHO,
2017).
Different researches in the recent years have indicated different health issues among
the older generation. Tomstand et al. (2014) showed that almost 36 percent of the older
people are faced with higher risks of under nutrition. Foottit and Anderson (2014) carried out
a study in Australia and discovered that the elderly health was influenced by chronic diseases,
single status, gambling, hearing, memory and exercise. Ecological approach so as to
understand the specific needs by the old generation was suggested by Harris and Grootjans
(2015), calling upon more studies on the health and social problems among this generation be
carried out on specific nations. According to the WHO (2017), over 20 percent of the elderly
(aged 60 and above) are suffering from neurological or mental disorders and around 6.6
percent have disability. Depression and dementia are the most common mental disorders
affecting the old with a 7 and 5 percent population respectively.
At the age of above 60 a person cannot work well as this age is termed as an age of
peace and resting. Therefore, this age contributes very little when it comes to employment but
are important in community work. Getting old comes together with deterioration of physical

and mental abilities which are crucial in modern living. The old are faced with behavioural,
physical and psychological changes, with their intellectual and physical capabilities declining
more as they advance in the old age. According to Friebe et al. (2014), the old are more or
less concerned with learning experiences and also unwilling to get in involved in educational
processes. The old cannot actively design their environment, making them powerless victims
of their fate. One’s evaluation is the first step to make the educational decision but it is
perceived that among the old, aging images are more relevant to them as compared to their
abilities to learn. Some people aged 60 years and above could be strong enough to carry
themselves around while others could be faced with difficulties hence the need for a
caregiver. For most of the older people living alone, they have issues with their housing
conditions. The following data indicates some of the new health issues affecting the old
people in 3 of the most developed continents.
Heart Disease Hypertension Diabetes Cancer Lung Disease Mobility
Imparement
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
A chart of some of the health issues affecting the old
United States England Europe
Courtesy of Jaul and Barron (2017)
Aging cannot be avoided in life and it comes with some inconveniences such as risk
of diseases and physiological decline. It is an asymptomatic chronic infection and calls for

maximum control and strict adherence to the prescribed treatment and medication so as
prevent risk of morbid diseases and other infections such as CVDs and renal diseases.
Hypertension, also called the high blood pressure is a blood pressure higher than 130/80
mmHg. Research claims that hypertension is among the leading causes of death among the
elderly and more than a third of people above the age of 65 are at a risk of contracting this
infection. Hypertension is of two types: essential or primary hypertension and secondary
hypertension. The essential hypertension has any identifiable cause and its development is
gradual for many years. Secondary hypertension occurs immediately and the blood pressure
is higher than that of essential hypertension. Some of the conditions causing this type of
hypertension are kidney problems, thyroid complications, obstructive sleep apnea, drug and
substance abuse (such as amphetamines), congenital defects and some medications such as
contraceptives (Doulougou et al. 2016).
Hypertension has a couple of risk factors. They include; age- the risk of getting
hypertension increases with age with it being common in men above 64 and women above 65
years. Race- hypertension is more prevalent among the blacks as compared to whites. Obesity
is another risk factor, with its risk increasing with one’s weight. Lack of physical activity
tends to increase the rate of heart beat. This makes the heart pump harder in every contraction
hence increasing blood pressure. Using of tobacco increases blood pressure and also damages
the arterial walls. Other risk factors for hypertension are family history, too much sodium in
the diet, less potassium in the diet, drinking alcohol, stress and some chronic conditions such
as diabetes and sleep apnea. Excess blood pressure damages the blood vessels and other body
organs.
To manage hypertension among the elderly, due to its asymptomatic nature, carrying
out subclinical organ damage test is important. Carrying out the organ damage assessment
helps curb the risk of diseases such as the CVDs. renal and morbid infections which worsen

the patient’s condition (Sheth and Jadav, 2016). Organ damage for hypertension patients is
linked with a 20 percent risk of cardiovascular condition for 10 years, and its assessment
helps know if the prescribed medications are helping the patient in reducing this tissue
damages. The antihypertension therapy administered to young adults is just the same therapy
administered to the elderly. Poor adherence to hypertension prescription is thought to be a
cause of more serious conditions of the disease. Researchers claim that strict adherence to the
medications reduces mortality rate by more than 13 percent. The therapeutic strategies for an
elderly individual with hypertension include weight reduction, physical activity, dash diet,
moderate alcohol consumption and reduction of sodium in the diet. These are non-
pharmacological strategies. The pharmacological strategies include administering thiazide
diuretic, which inhibits reabsorption of Na+ and Cl- ions in the distal convoluted tubules;
ACEIs and ARBs, which prevent angiotensin I being converted to angiotensin II the directing
the process of blocking angiotensin II and calcium antagonists which prevents calcium from
moving through peripheral arterials and the cardiac muscles (long et al. 2015).
According to Damay et al. (2015) hypertension is among the leading causes of deaths
among the elderly in the world with more than 1 billion people being infected with this
infection worldwide. America is leading, with more cases of hypertension. People’s
understanding on the pathogenesis of high blood pressure remains to be poor despite how
important it is. Few people know about the cause of the inherited type of hypertension which
has been linked with kidney tubule defects. Knowing more about hypertension helps in more
research on the therapies and ways to control this infection. It would also help in the control
of hypertension (control means a blood pressure reading of below 140/90 mmHg). More
research on the strategies, targets and goals for treatment of hypertension comorbidities helps
prevent more deaths as a result of high blood pressure.

This disease is a public health concern and more recent research seems to shed more
light on its scope, pathogenesis and treatment options. Despite the consequences of
hypertension, there is less attention and funding towards the research, control and treatment
of this disease. In the 1970s nations and stakeholders were focused on early detection and
prevention but currently this has shifted to the pharmacological treatment. According to those
affected by this disease, it is easy to neglect it considering first its asymptomatic nature.
Therefore, nations and relevant authorities have been called upon to join efforts to help fight
this world menace. They have come up with strategies like availing more funding and public
sensitization on hypertension (Weber and Lankland, 2016).
Among the associations working hard to prevent hypertension is the International
Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB), which is a non-profitable organization focused at
improving life expectancy and the health of the minority ethnic groups around the world
through the fight against hypertension. They are devoted to providing universal and quality
health care to everybody. The PHCentral is another non-profitable organization which was
formed in 1999. Their goals include guiding high blood pressure patients with the support
they require, linking patients with caregivers and friends with common interests and
providing information about diseases to any concerned party.
According to a report by Peterson, Gaziano and Greenland (2014), future
recommendations on treatment and prevention of hypertension were totality of evidence
based. Experts noted an increase in cardiovascular events as SBP rose beyond 140 mmHg,
therefore they set this as the treatment target for hypertension. Later research on the elderly
indicated more benefits on treatment of isolated SBP below 160 mHg. Another
recommendation for the future treatment of hypertension according to Pescatello et al. (2015)
include combination pills, vaccination, carotid stimulator therapy and LCZ696.
Pharmaceutical companies are focused on coming up with combination pills in the attempt to

come up with a new class of antihypertensive treatment in the near future. An amazing and
novel approach of treating high blood pressure is through vaccination. The ang II vaccine,
which is still under research was tested on patients with mild hypertension and gave
interesting results (Kovell et al. 2015). All these ways of treating hypertension are currently
under research

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