How is my asthma treated differently if I'm elderly?

How is my asthma treated differently if I'm elderly?

William Berger (Allergist and Immunologist) gives expert video advice on: How common is asthma in children?; Can the elderly get asthma? and more...

As opposed to children and young adults, the elderly population with asthma very often have other medical problems. As a result, we have to be aware of those medical problems, not treat the asthma and complicate their other medical conditions. For example, many patients over the age of 60 have a history of cardiovascular problems, heart problems and blood pressure problems. We certainly would like to keep them away from any medications, such as beta-agenes, that might cause a complication of their heart or their blood pressure problems. In addition, a lot of patients with asthma have nasal problems and we may want to treat them with antihistamines or decongestants, but older men might have prostate problems that will then get complicated with the use of these medications. As a result, when you take a history from an elderly patient with asthma, it's very important that you're aware of their other medications. In addition, medications such as beta blockers, which are very often used in patients with cardiac conditions, can actually make their asthma worse. Very often we need to work with their own doctor to see if there are alternate medications that they can use for their other medical conditions that won't complicate their asthma.