Focusing on Heart Failure in Elderly Facilities in the Post-COVID-19 Era
Recently, heart failure has increased in the elderly compared to cancer, and
it is becoming the cause of death as the age increases.
In such patients,
the wide variety of factors (comorbidities) that exacerbate heart failure are thought to be largely due to aging of organs other than the heart.
In addition, many elderly people find it difficult to take a medical history
due to aging-related symptoms such as dementia, hearing loss, and aphasia, and
it is difficult to identify the cause of the symptoms.
The symptoms are atypical, and
attention should be paid to other symptoms such as dyspnea, lack of energy, and loss of appetite.
The efficacy of many drugs for the treatment of heart failure has been established.
However, it is not clear whether it is as effective in older people as it is in younger people.
No drug has yet been shown to be effective
against the type of heart failure that is common in the elderly.
In heart failure in the elderly,
frailty, sarcopenia, and nutritional status have been shown to be more prognostic than cardiac function itself.
Furthermore, heart failure in the elderly is recognized as a common disease
that is based on aging of the heart and aging of organs other than the heart, and
that it is a progressive and fatal disease that leads to repeated re-hospitalization and death.
Now Therefore, we have to think about living will and palliative care, focusing on care at home.
Finally, our clinic offers three arrows of anti-aging treatment.
As I wrote in my previous director’s diary,
NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) infusion therapy and hydrogen gas inhalation therapy
among the three arrows
can overcome the barriers of heart failure treatment for the elderly.
https://juraku-clinic.jp/directors-blog/4095/