Clinical Geriatrics

Vaccine to Cut Risk of Shingles in Older People Is Approved” read the headline in the Health section of The New York Times. To the casual reader this may pale in comparison to the bombings in Iraq, the baseball scores, or the weather forecast for the weekend. To me, it spoke of hope.

Today’s generation of elderly individuals unfortunately did not have the ability to take advantage of modern medicine’s knowledge of preventive healthcare measures and the myriad of new technology that has changed the face of medicine today. Many of the diseases that are all too common in old age may have been prevented if only one had the knowledge of what to do or not to do earlier in life. We are now well aware of the harmful effects of smoking and excessive UV light exposure. In the past, an abundance of cigarette advertisements promoting smoking were the norm. Tanning oils were intended to “help one tan” and did not filter out damaging UV light; aluminum tanning chairs and sun-reflecting trifolds were common sights in parks and beaches during my youth. Today, food labels list the content of cholesterol, trans fat, and calcium as we strive to improve our diets and their impact on health, though not too many decades ago we knew little about the potential impact that too much or too little of specific nutrients would have on one’s health status later in life. Exercise and stress reduction are now considered to be components of a healthy lifestyle, and it is hard to pick up a magazine that does not offer some self-help plan aimed at improving one’s health status and even longevity; little emphasis was placed on these factors until the 1960s.

For a long time, I have been stressing the importance for older individuals to keep current with their vaccinations and to obtain those they require with the passing of time. Some diseases that were more commonplace in the past are now in decline or virtually have been eliminated thanks to the introduction of vaccines such as those available for pneumococcal pneumonia, influenza, and tetanus, among many others. Despite our knowledge about these, however, it remains a challenge for most healthcare professionals to maintain 100% patient compliance with vaccination recommendations. We know that vaccines do work and that they can prevent life-threatening illness.

The recent news of the advent of effective vaccinations for herpes and papillomavirus must not be underestimated in importance. Future generations of older persons now have the potential for a very different healthcare profile, as compared to the elderly of today. Studies are currently in process that will hopefully lead to the development of vaccines against melanoma and HIV, among other life-altering diseases. The future appears bright. While we may not be able to reverse the effects of the normal aging process at present, preventive healthcare can go a long way toward preventing many problems and diseases of older age, and toward improving the quality of life for generations to come.

Send comments to Dr. Gambert at medwards@hmpcommunications.com