Changing Nature of Cardiac Interventions in Older Adults

Older adults represent a rapidly growing segment of the population in developed countries. Advancing age is the most powerful risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and CVD-related mortality increases markedly in older individuals. Procedures for patients with CVD, including percutaneous coronary intervention, aortic valve replacement and implantable cardioverter defibrillators were all initially validated in younger individuals but are increasingly being applied in older adults who for the most part have been significantly understudied in clinical trials. While advanced age alone is not a contraindication to these procedures, with the advent of less invasive methods to manage CVD including percutaneous techniques to treat both coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease, future research will need to weigh the potential harms of intervention in a population of older adults with multiple medical comorbidities and complex physiologic phenotypes against outcomes that include preventing functional decline and improving quality of life.