Medical Directory Articles - Flipbook - Page 20
Ensuring a Healthy 2025
Preventative Measures are Easy to Incorporate
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
A
variety of research studies
and scholarly articles published around the globe in recent decades reveal the same conclusion: preventative care helps to
reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions and diseases and contribute to improved health.
Consulting your primary care
practitioner will help determine exactly which prevention methods are
recommended for you individually.
Primary care practitioners are also
pediatricians who care for children
under age 18, internists or internal
medicine specialists, and family
care providers. All have undergone
speci昀椀c training in caring for the
whole person, focusing on the pre-
vention, diagnosis and treatment of
diseases related to the body’s internal organs and systems.
With extensive research available to providers, an emphasis for
most general medical practices is
on helping prevent disease and disability.
Cyrus Hamidi, M.D., a family
medicine provider with the LifeBridge Health Medical Group in
Lutherville, Maryland, suggests 昀椀ve
key ways to prevent illness and disease.
1. Immunization
According to the American Medical Association, immunizations
prevent disease and disability and
save millions of lives each year. The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
states that getting vaccinated is one
of the safest ways to protect overall
health.
Hamidi recommends the following vaccines for adults:
• Flu (annual) – the 昀氀u shot will not
provide 100% immunity from the
昀氀u, but it will decrease the intensity
of the illness, he notes.
• COVID-19 (initial two-shot series,
then boosters) – the COVID virus
has changed since the start of the
pandemic in 2020. It’s much less
likely to result in death, but it is still
virulent, Hamidi explains.
• Pneumonia (10 years) – new recommendations from the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices suggest the vaccine for pneumonia for individuals over 50 years
of age. Pneumonia can lead to severe or life-threatening illness and
carries a nearly 2% mortality rate.
• Shingles (two-shot series) – research has shown that the shingles vaccine is 90% effective for
adults 50 years and older with
healthy immune systems, according to the CDC. Adults ages 19
years and older with weakened
immune systems are at a higher
risk of complications and should
get the vaccine.
An added bene昀椀t, according to
recent research published in the
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, is
that the shingles vaccine lowers the
risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
