Preventive Health Check-ups can be Essential For Seniors

Elder Care in Northborough, MA – Regular Physical Exams and Screenings are Important for Long-Term Senior Health

If you are providing care for your elderly loved one at home, you already know that their health and normal senses are starting to decline. While this is a normal part of aging, there are steps you can take to help keep your senior healthy. At their age, it’s more important than ever to make sure that they keep up with doctor’s appointments and checkups that help detect and prevent health deterioration. Your loved one may not be aware of all of these, so you, the family caregiver, can stay informed and make sure that your loved one follows through. Here are a few checkups and screenings recommended by the Center for Disease Control that your senior should be keeping up on regularly:

• Blood Pressure Screening: Seniors should have their blood pressure checked once per year. This will help monitor if they develop any irregularities. If the senior has diabetes, heart disease, or other conditions that relate to blood, the senior will need to get blood pressure checked more often.
• Cholesterol Screening: A senior citizen should get their cholesterol checked every 5 years to ensure that their levels are normal.
• Diabetes Screening: If your senior lives in good health and exercises regularly, they should be screened once every three years. However, if they are overweight, eat poorly, or smoke, they may need a more frequent screening.
• Dental Exam: This one applies to everyone, but it isn’t any less important for elders. Ensure that seniors go to the dentist every year for an exam and regular cleaning.
• Vaccines and Immunizations: Also a regular precaution, seniors should be getting the flu shot ever year, a tetanus booster every 10 years, and a pneumococcal vaccine every five years.
• Physical Exams: Just like for any age group, you want to your elder to get a yearly physical exam. In the exam, the doctor will check the senior’s weight, height, body mass index, cancer indicators, and other tests to ensure that there are no irregularities.

For men, there has been discussion on whether or not to get a prostate screening. The general conclusion is that routine prostate exams for men without symptoms are not recommended.

Women should also receive regular breast exams as they age, since odds of developing breast cancer increases with age. Therefore, women should receive annual mammograms and doctor’s breast exams. In addition, women over age 60 should also get regular pelvic exams and pap smears, as these can detect conditions that may lead to cervical or vaginal cancer.