Routine visits, immunizations and screenings remain cornerstones of senior preventative care
With flu season almost upon us, now is the time to schedule your annual influenza vaccination and to check in on your care needs ahead of winter. It’s important to stay up to date on all critical shots, but vaccines are just one crucial pillar of proactive health and preventative healthcare alongside regular checkups and early screenings for potentially serious conditions.
“At Optum, we are very much preventative care oriented and very much evidence-based medicine oriented,” said Minesh Mehta, MD, a family physician with Optum who practices in Carson, California. “Doing the things that are based on evidence can help keep you healthy in the long run.”
Regular health checkups and consultations with your doctor enable appropriate screenings for things like bone density, diabetes, and breast and colon cancers. Additionally, cardiovascular risk assessments can identify patients who may be at risk for cardiovascular disease and thus allow the implementation of timely preventative measures.
“When we see you, we have your long-term health in mind,” Dr. Mehta continued. “You came in for your stubbed toe, but, by the way, you need your mammogram, and we need to talk about colorectal cancer screening and look at your blood pressure … it’s not just addressing what you’re there for; it’s addressing all the stuff that potentially could trip you up down the road.”
Dr. Mehta recommends getting the flu vaccine in September or October each year, ahead of the colder weather in which the virus thrives. Because, while flu can leave even young adults bedridden, it can mean hospitalization or worse for seniors.
“Seniors should make sure that they get the flu vaccine every year,” said Dr. Mehta, who has been with Optum and its medical groups since 1998. “The reason that it’s annual is because the flu changes every year. The flu vaccine in the U.S. is based on what we’re seeing in Australia this season, and adjustments are made to the specific antigens that they target.”
Optum, which serves more than 3 million Californians at more than 130 locations statewide, also encourages older adults to get the one-time pneumonia vaccine. Last year, the CDC recommended lowering the age for vaccination against pneumococcal bacteria, which can also cause meningitis and bloodstream infections, from 65 to 50.
In 2023, the one-time RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine, previously given mostly to infants, was approved for seniors. RSV can cause cold-like symptoms and lead to lung and respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia. Dr. Mehta also advises that older patients should consider vaccination against shingles – essentially a reactivation of chicken pox that is more likely to happen after the age of 50. The resulting rash can be treated, but the related pain may linger for the rest of someone’s life.
“Vaccines are one of the big reasons why we have so much better life expectancy than we did 50 years ago,” said Dr. Mehta. “Lots of children used to die from measles. Vaccines made that, frankly, a non-entity … [and] the way smallpox was eradicated from this Earth is through vaccines.”
While we haven’t seen a repeat of the catastrophic coronavirus variant that swept the globe in 2020, Dr. Mehta recommends COVID-19 vaccination for seniors and younger people who have risk factors. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved three updated COVID-19 vaccines, but this approval is currently limited to “high-risk” individuals, including people over the age of 65 and those with certain underlying conditions. The immunity offered by COVID-19 vaccines wanes over time, so Dr. Mehta recommends a booster every year or even every six months for seniors.
Getting vaccinated doesn’t mean you won’t contract a given disease. Rather, a vaccine will likely make your body’s reaction to that disease less acute. So, think of a vaccine as a layer of preventative insurance rather than an airtight shield against infection. Similarly, while a healthy lifestyle – balanced diet, regular exercise, etc. – can make a contagious disease less serious, it does not reduce the likelihood of catching that disease in the first place.
Accordingly, Optum’s emphasis on preventative medicine includes recommending regular checkups, screenings and vaccines for even the healthiest of patients. Your doctor can advise you, based on your medical history, age and other risk factors, which screenings are appropriate and also suggest preventative health goals, such as weight loss or cholesterol reduction, which could decrease the chances of serious health issues in the future.
“Make an appointment, get checked and see what it is that you may be behind on. And not just vaccines but, as I said, things like preventative screenings [for] colorectal cancer, mammograms,” Dr. Mehta concluded. “Then your physician can point out what vaccines and screenings you’re behind on and what they recommend based on your medical condition.”
Minesh Mehta, MD, CCFP
Medical Director
Optum
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