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Aging and Chronic Conditions

...by Paige Bartlett, UW School of Nursing de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging

As we age, we are more likely to develop chronic illnesses. At the same time, we can get worse at detecting signs of those illnesses, says Jonathan Auld, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington School of Nursing. Our perception of classic chronic disease symptoms— like pain, fatigue and shortness of breath—may decrease as we get older. It’s important to know the difference between changes in your health that are a natural part of aging versus a condition that might need treatment. Tracking symptoms can help manage existing chronic illnesses and detect new health problems earlier rather than later. “People who are managing their symptoms better and are more responsive to their symptoms tend to have better outcomes, tend to be hospitalized less, tend to have better quality of life,” said Auld. Auld’s research is in heart failure symptoms and selfmanagement, although he says techniques and practices for symptom management can be applied across many chronic diseases. His interest in the field started when he was a ventricular device coordinator, a nurse who works with heart failure patients Jonathan Auld (right) with another presenter, Oleg Zaslavsky, at the 2019 Ignite Aging symposium who have implanted heart pumps. “I started to notice that there seemed to be people who had a similar stage of heart failure; their hearts seemed to be sick in similar ways,” said Auld. “But they had different symptoms and I wanted to better understand that, so I went to graduate school in nursing.” He’s currently researching the different ways that patients and their partners respond to a health intervention so that future interventions can be better tailored to individuals’ needs.

“My work as a nurse, my work as a researcher, is really focused on understanding how patients and caregivers experience and manage their illnesses because we need to know more about how people are doing this and what’s working,” said Auld.

Older adults may sometimes attribute early signs of chronic illness to aging, when delaying treatment could make the

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condition worse. One of the major differences between aging symptoms and chronic illness symptoms is time. Natural changes in our aging bodies and minds tend to happen over the course of years, not weeks or days, says Auld. Symptoms that develop in a short span of time may be due to a health condition rather than aging.

It’s useful to share with your health care provider how recent a symptom is and how quickly it developed, so they better understand the context. Auld recommends writing down how you feel each day or even using a phone app that helps monitor your symptoms. Getting in tune with your body through fitness may also help you better attend to symptoms, he adds.

“Everybody has a different level that’s normal for them,” said Auld. “It’s when something deviates from normal that you really want to start addressing it.”

Auld presented at the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s annual Ignite Aging event in September 2019, talking about how older adults should track their health and symptoms day to day. It can help individuals notice new symptoms or manage existing ones. ❖

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