Promoting cardiovascular health: special considerations for the elderly.

Although clinicians and researchers understand the need to promote cardiovascular health in people of all ages, with population aging there are particular insights/issues that should be considered when counseling and caring for elderly patients. The focus here is to present current statistics relative to aging in the United States, discuss risk factors and lifestyle with a particular focus on those 65 years and older, and further discuss the need to continuously monitor activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living in elderly persons to ensure that whatever is done to promote cardiovascular health does not interfere with functional independence.