Depression is common in older adults. However, older adults often do not mention symptoms of depression, or may think the symptoms are just a normal part of aging. Also, depression can be mistaken for health symptoms, like being tired. 

Older adults need screening for depression at least once a year. To screen, a health care provider may:

• Ask a few questions about the adult’s mood.
• Ask the older adult to answer a short set of questions.

The answers will help the provider decide whether the older adult would benefit from treatment, such as talk therapy, medication, or both.

Some decreases in a person’s cognition (thinking, learning and memory) may come with older age. These normal changes don’t limit a person’s ability to live their lives independently.

Older adults need to report any changes in their cognition to their healthcare professional. Then the professional will likely do a short test of an older adult’s cognition to see if any further testing should be done.

Further testing can find out what type of impairment a person may have or if they have a dementia, like Alzheimer’s disease.

Current recommendations for breast cancer screening are:

• Women up to age 75 need a mammogram every two years.
• Mammograms may be needed for women after age 75 who are still healthy.

Several tests can screen for colon cancer:

• A colonoscopy is the most comprehensive test, and is recommended at least every 10 years for adults age 50 to 75.
• Annual stool testing for fecal occult blood (blood in the stool) is commonly used as an alternative screening test for colon cancer for people at low risk for this disease. This test is needed yearly up to age 75.
• Other less common screening tests include CT colonography (“virtual colonoscopy”) or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years.

A Pap smear to test for cervical cancer is recommended:

• For women every 3-5 years.
• Screening isn’t needed for women after the age of 65 if they have had regular, normal screenings in the past 10 years. This is true regardless of their sexual history or having new partners. 
• Women who have had a hysterectomy (surgery to remove a woman's uterus or womb) don’t need screening. However, if the hysterectomy was due to cancer, screening needs to continue.

Most older men don’t need screening for prostate cancer because the disease usually grows very slowly. Research doesn’t show a benefit to early treatment of this cancer.  The recommendation is to stop prostate cancer screening at age 70.

A healthcare provider can recommend screening for prostate cancer based on an older adult’s risks.

Screening for lung cancer with a low-radiation dose CT scan once a year is recommended for some people age 55-80. People are at high of lung cancer and need screening, if they:

• Currently smoke
• Have a 20-pack a year smoking history
• Have quit smoking within the past 15 years

Screening can stop when a person:

• Hasn’t smoked for 15 years
• Have a shorter life span where lung surgery wouldn’t help them

You should receive one dose of the updated 2023-2024 Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.* 

The updated vaccines are called “updated” because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variant XBB 1.5.

*The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is also authorized for people ages 12 years and older for primary vaccination and, in certain limited situations, as a booster dose in people ages 18 years and older.

Up to 70 percent of hospitalizations and 90 percent of deaths from the flu happen to older adults.

All older adults should get a flu shot every fall, at the start of the flu season.

Older adults need to have the pneumococcal vaccine after age 65.

There are two kinds of pneumococcal vaccines available: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV15, or PCV20) and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23). Ask your healthcare provider which vaccine is best for you.

Adults need a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) or tetanus-diptheria-pertussis vaccine booster every 10 years. Adults age 65 and over should receive one dose of the tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap) vaccine if they have not received the Tdap vaccine previously.

The pertussis part of the Tdap vaccine protects against whooping cough. So, this vaccine is important for older adults who have close contact with infants under one year of age.

Shingles is a painful rash caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. The risk of both shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia increases dramatically after age 50.

The shingles vaccine reduces the:

• Risk of getting shingles
• Severity of shingles outbreaks
• Risk of post herpetic neuralgia

The shingles vaccine is recommended for most adults age 50 and over. People with weak immune systems shouldn’t get the shingles vaccination.