What Is Age Bias in Healthcare?
These articles are written by Diverse Health Hub for HCPs and those interested in making a difference in health outcomes. We present information to create in-depth conversations that encourage health professionals to critically think about how they can best serve their patients and families.
Age bias, also known as ageism, in healthcare creates another barrier to equitable healthcare for all patients. Some age-biased practices by societal and healthcare systems have been more visible with the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown that age bias impacts clinical health outcomes through inequitable application of healthcare resources and treatments, especially in regard to senior patients (generally those aged 65 and older).
Consequences of Age Bias in Healthcare
Looking closer at age bias in healthcare, several phenomena have been observed in studies. Some of the observations include:
Age cut-offs have been used to withhold patient care even with healthy senior patients who had no serious medical conditions. This withholding of care for seniors resulted in decreased quality of life, increased mortality rates, increased cognitive and functional impairments, increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits, and increased non-compliance with prescribed medications for the impacted patients.
With increasing age comes a greater incidence of comorbidities, and busy healthcare professionals may struggle with finding ample time in their schedules for continuing education. This, in turn, leads to age bias with healthcare professionals lagging behind in keeping abreast of medical education that is vital in caring for elderly patients. For example, healthcare professionals may be unaware of aspects of disease progression that occur specifically in older adults.
It is vital for healthcare professionals to gain knowledge about drug interactions when taking multiple medications, which can be more severe in senior patients. A lack of knowledge results in age bias and a lack of awareness of drug interactions that can render prescribed medications ineffective – or worse yet – even detrimental to a patient’s health.
Geriatric assessments help determine the overall health and functional limitations of senior patients, yet these may be missed in the process of choosing the best treatment plan for senior cancer patients. This then leads to age bias in delayed or missed diagnoses if a provider is unaware of health factors that can impact cancer treatment options.
Clinical trial research is also a prime example where age bias has been ongoing and widespread. Many senior patients have experienced exclusion from clinical trial participation based solely on their age. This exclusion from clinical trials then results in less effective treatments for senior patients.
Solutions to Reduce Age Bias in Healthcare
Though there are many examples of ongoing age bias in healthcare, actions can be taken to help work toward equitable healthcare for all patient ages, including:
Healthcare professionals can take surveys to gauge their own age biases to keep themselves accountable for their unconscious biases.
Routine surveys of the healthcare experiences of underdiagnosed and untreated populations must continue to gauge the rates of those who still experience age bias.
Healthcare professionals can keep a record of their ongoing medical education to ensure they cover all age groups for whom they provide care.
Patient advocates and healthcare professionals can advocate for increased research funding to help shine the light on age bias in healthcare and closing the care gap for underserved patients.
Geriatric assessments and education about drug interactions can be carried out by healthcare professionals to help ensure optimal treatment plans and health outcomes for senior patients.
Healthcare professionals can support patient awareness of clinical trials and encourage participation in clinical trials across a wider range of ages for more refined treatments.
Sources
Sharon K. Inouye. Creating an Anti-Ageist Healthcare System to Improve Care for Our Current and Future Selves. Nature Aging website. Accessed March 15, 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-020-00004-4
