Is Age a contraindication to Surgery?

With an increasingly older population and people generally living longer, we are finding that advancing age is no longer a contraindication to surgery. ⁠ Many might require anything from small procedures to major surgery during their lifetime, such as; heart surgery⁠ joint replacements, hernia repair etc. The aiding tool that will influence whether a patient can have an operation is a risk assessment by a medical team that will help clarify the risk factors, which are; ⁠ ⁠

  • Cardiovascular events⁠
  • Risk of Stroke ⁠
  • Post operative Pneumonia⁠ 
  • Risk of bleeding and other complications related to the ⁠ proposed operation⁠ 
  • Existing medical problems⁠
  • Medications ⁠ 
  • Functional status of that patient⁠

The functional status basically is a marker for the physiological reserves which is reflective of the kind and amount of physical activity that individual can endure. ⁠ ⁠This helps in predicting their outcome and the likelihood for potential complications as having an operation is a strenuous event on the body. Those who have muscle weakness, physical exhaustion and low physical activity will have a higher risk of complications when they undergo surgery. ⁠ ⁠

 

𝟰 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀⁠ ⁠

  • 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 including daily exercise: start at 5,000 steps per day and work towards 10,000 then eventually 30 min strenuous exercise 3 times per week⁠ ⁠
  • 𝗡𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 with healthy choices ⁠ ⁠
  • Consider regular 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: swimming, walking, golf, tennis, dancing classes, pilates, weight lifting⁠ ⁠
  • Exercises for the 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱: sudoku, puzzles, reading, word finding tasks⁠ ⁠ ⁠

Let’s start the quest in keeping our mind and body young! ⁠