UCSF

Longevity is increasing and the population of older adults is growing. The biology of aging is conducive to cardiovascular disease (CVD), such that prevalence of coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, arrhythmia and other disorders are increasing as more adults survive into old age.  Furthermore, CVD in older adults is distinctive, with management issues predictably complicated by multimorbidity, polypharmacy, frailty and other complexities of care that increase management risks (e.g., bleeding, falls, and rehospitalization) and uncertainty of outcomes.  In this review, state-of-the-art advances in heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, atrial fibrillation, amyloidosis, and CVD prevention are discussed.  Conceptual benefits of treatments are considered in relation to the challenges and ambiguities inherent in their application to older patients.