Aging and Health Among Older people with Serious Mental Illnesses: Research and Clinical Updates

Abstract

There is a growing need to improve health outcomes among people aging with schizophrenia due to the rapidly increasing population and unique health challenges. Middle-aged and older people with schizophrenia have unique needs compared to first-episode or clinical high-risk populations and often do not garner the same benefits from interventions developed and tested for younger and less chronic populations. Middle-aged and older people with schizophrenia have cumulative effects of neuroleptic medications, lifestyle factors such as smoking and sedentary behaviors, and longstanding cognitive deficits. This session will discuss physical health outcomes from epidemiological, biological, and interventional perspectives.Alison Hwong, PhD will present on medical comorbidities and mortality among aging adults with schizophrenia, using a large database of veterans with schizophrenia.Lisa Eyler, PhD will present on the complex longitudinal relationships between C-reactive protein levels and body mass index among adults with schizophrenia.Ellen Lee, MD will present on longitudinal relationships between psychological resilience and physical health among people with schizophrenia.Karen L. Fortuna, PhD, LICSW will present on the Supporting Older Adults Remotely (SOAR; i.e., a Medicaid reimbursable endorsement to certify peer support specialists as “Certified Older Adults Peer Support Specialists” to use the SOAR app to support successful aging among other older adults).Martha Sajatovic, MD will moderate and lead a discussion of how to translate these research findings to clinical applications and potential future directions of their work.