Health Maintenance and Prevention

Older adults are an increasingly larger demographic globally. They are living longer and there is increasing focus on maintaining their quality of life and preserving their functional independence. Concurrent with this demographic change, the framework for health maintenance in this heterogenous group has pivoted from single disease-based interventions to a person-centered evidence-based approach. This approach starts with the values, goals, and preference of an older adult. Recommendations are based on evidence, and factors such as life expectancy, health status, lag time, intervention benefits, and burdens help determine which interventions are practicable. This chapter offers health maintenance recommendations with consideration to appropriateness based on health status. Recommendations are primarily from the US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement (USPSTF), Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) investigators, and Clinical Glidepath investigators.