Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A new study suggests older adults with chronic conditions respond better to non-drug behavioral treatments.
Research shows nearly 70 percent of adults over age 75 have more than two chronic health conditions and nearly 55 percent of Medicare recipients who have had a stroke or heart failure have five or more chronic health conditions.
Researchers analyzed data from 381 participants mostly in their 70s who had been diagnosed with cancer and found that people with cancer were also diagnosed with COPD, congestive heart failure, dementia, renal disease and other chronic illnesses.
They analyzed results of a prior study originally designed to test how well people did after they stopped taking statin medication to lower cholesterol levels.
The most common combination of chronic illnesses was COPD, congestive heart failure and cardiovascular disease.
The study, published Aug. 30 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, showed that having multiple chronic conditions was associated with symptoms that could negatively affect quality of life for patients.
"Our findings support the growing evidence recommending a shift from disease-specific treatment to addressing the symptoms that result from having multiple chronic conditions," researchers reported after the study.
The study showed that the total sum of symptoms, not the combination of chronic conditions, was linked to a person's ability to function. Depression and fatigue also add to quality of life and a person's ability to function well.
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