Geriatric Care Management Blog

February gives us Valentine’s Day, and February also is American Heart Month, a really good time to talk about cardiovascular wellness. The average human heart beats more than 100,000 times a day and pumps about 1,800 gallons of blood in the process.  Working that hard, it may be little surprise that cardiac-related conditions represent about 27 percent of all deaths in Americans.  That percent increases to 40 percent of all mortality for those ages 65 to 74 and as high as 60 percent of the deaths of people 80 years or older. Aging sets in motion some trends which help explain the increase in mortality:

As arteries age, they become less flexible which can increase blood pressure Mitral valves in the ventricles of older hearts close more slowly which contributes to a slower flow rate The resting heart rate slows and the exercise capacity of the heart decreases with age as well Older hearts do not squeeze as efficiently and the heart actually enlarges as the cells themselves expand...

In the first of my present series of postings on recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings, I had talked about new evidence of long term health risks from some pain medications that are available both in prescription and over the counter (OTC).  In this posting, I am going to share with you another FDA warning, this one for prescription medications that lower cholesterol.  The “family” of medications is commonly called statins and includes some very well known brands that many of you have seen advertised on television and in magazines.  Others of you or the people you care for may also be taking these medications. All Americans have been alerted to the risks posed by increasingly high levels of cholesterol many of us have in our bloodstreams owing to eating foods high in fats or just plain eating too much.  One way to address the elevated “bad cholesterol” or low density lipids (LDLs) is through diet and exercise.  But for people with persistently...