Bette Davis famously said, “Old age is no place for sissies.” Growing old is challenge enough, so is being obese—but put them together and . . . .
Among the challenges:
1. Accelerated cognitive decline. A recent study found that cognitive decline was accelerated among the obese with any two of the four abnormalities:
a. High triglycerides or use of lipid-lowering medications
b. High low-density lipoproteins (LDL)
c. Elevated blood pressure or use of blood pressure medications
d. Elevated blood glucose
A 2009 Nursing World article added the following life-threatening illnesses:
2. Cardiovascular Disease. Over 80 percent of older Americans dies from this disease. Obesity seems to exacerbate the inflammatory process that underlies it.
3. Gallbladder Disease. Obesity is believed to effect a decrease in bile salts and increase in cholesterol.
4. Cancer. The evidence that obesity is a risk factor for cancer, particularly breast cancer, is growing.
5. Diabetes. Even relatively small weight gains can provoke a genetic tendency toward diabetes, so much the worse for the large weight gains that result in obesity.
As well as the nonfatal ailments:
6. Respiratory Problems. Lungs decrease in size, and the chest wall becomes heavier.
7. Arthritis and Osteo-arthritis. While arthritis is a general challenge for older adults, obesity puts weight on the knee and hip joints, resulting in damage to cartilage.
8. Skin conditions. Perspiration and friction can lead to persistent skin conditions.
The necessary emotional and financial burden of caring for the aged in our society, as well we should, is inflated by the unnecessary burdens of avoidable disease and disability. As we address the health needs of our population, we must lessen the burden of the aged on our society, not by decreasing available benefits but by decreasing needs. That goal requires improving health before and during old age.
Further reading:
Obesity Among Older Americans
National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity Among Adults Age 50 and Over
Effect of Obesity on Falls, Injury, and Disability
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