Description
Older adults are more likely to be diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and many also face a wide range of age-specific complicating factors. That’s one reason the American Thoracic Society (ATS), a Breathe Better Network partner, assembled its Aging Interest Group, an interdisciplinary consortium of pulmonary-critical care experts focused on improving the lung health of older adults. Learn More Breathe Better® connected with Judy Corn, Senior Director, Patient Education and Documents at ATS and Drs. Anand Iyer, Angela Suen, and Lauren Pollack, who co-lead the Geriatrics in Pulmonary Subgroup, to learn more.
COPD is common among older adults and is becoming increasingly so. How can pulmonologists integrate age-friendly care into their work with COPD patients?
Having an approach that addresses what matters most for older adults living with COPD and their families is paramount. One popular approach pulmonologists can take to integrate age-friendly care into their work is to use the 4Ms Framework (What Matters, Mobility, Medications, and Mentation) which focuses on outcomes important to older adults:
- In What Matters, clinicians should use patient healthcare preferences and values to inform an individualized management plan.
- The Mobility domain should prompt clinicians to consider an older patient’s mobility status and how the disease and treatment may impact functional independence, a critically important outcome for older adults.
- The Medications domain is a reminder that older adults are much more likely to be taking multiple medications, which can complicate care and affect quality of life.
- The Mentation domain should prompt clinicians to assess for cognitive impairment, as it may affect a patient’s ability to adhere to a treatment plan or even participate in complex decision making.
What tools can healthcare providers leverage to help address the full range of patient needs?
Recognizing the burden that COPD places on older adults and their families is important. COPD symptoms, medication side effects, and cumbersome supplemental oxygen equipment may impact everyday life, functional independence, cognition, and risk of falls. The Aging Interest Group compiled the Toolkit for Age-Friendly Pulmonary/Critical Care Best Practices, which includes guidance and resources for clinicians caring for older adults with COPD.
What are the key messages from the Toolkit that healthcare providers should know?
COPD shares many similarities with the biology of aging. In addition, adults with COPD have a high burden of “geriatrics syndromes” such as frailty, functional impairment, and social isolation. Assessing for geriatrics syndromes can allow clinicians to tailor their management plans to best serve the needs of their patients. For example, the benefits of supplemental oxygen use in an older adult with mild exertional hypoxemia, COPD, and mobility impairment should be weighed against the risks of precipitating falls and worsening social isolation as part of the shared decision-making process.
The American Thoracic Society has been a long-time partner in the Breathe Better Network. What are some of the ways your organization has benefitted from Network partnership?
We benefit from the wealth of educational resources developed by Learn More Breathe Better and Breathe Better Network partners to support healthcare professionals and patients with chronic lung conditions. Being part of the Network allows us to connect and collaborate with other organizations focused on lung health, enhancing our efforts to improve care for older adults with COPD and other chronic lung conditions. We value the opportunity to help shape the direction of future initiatives to raise awareness about lung health among older adults and improve outcomes for patients and their family members.
