Potentially avoidable risk factors continue to cause unnecessary disability and premature death in older people. Health risk assessment (HRA), a method successfully used in working-age populations, is a promising method for cost-effective health promotion and preventive care in older individuals, but the long-term effects of this approach are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative approach to HRA and counselling in older individuals for health behaviours, preventive care, and long-term survival. This study was a pragmatic, single-centre randomised controlled clinical trial in community-dwelling individuals aged 65 y or older registered with one of 19 primary care physician (PCP) practices in a mixed rural and urban area in Switzerland. From November 2000 to January 2002, 874 participants were randomly allocated to the intervention and 1,410 to usual care. The intervention consisted of HRA based on self-administered questionnaires and individualised computer-generated feedback reports, combined with nurse and PCP counselling over a 2-y period. Primary outcomes were health behaviours and preventive care use at 2 y and all-cause mortality at 8 y. At baseline, participants in the intervention group had a mean ± standard deviation of 6.9 ± 3.7 risk factors (including unfavourable health behaviours, health and functional impairments, and social risk factors) and 4.3 ± 1.8 deficits in recommended preventive care. At 2 y, favourable health behaviours and use of preventive care were more frequent in the intervention than in the control group (based on z-statistics from generalised estimating equation models). For example, 70% compared to 62% were physically active (odds ratio 1.43, 95% CI 1.16–1.77, p = 0.001), and 66% compared to 59% had influenza vaccinations in the past year (odds ratio 1.35, 95% CI 1.09–1.66, p = 0.005). At 8 y, based on an intention-to-treat analysis, the estimated proportion alive was 77.9% in the intervention and 72.8% in the control group, for an absolute mortality difference of 4.9% (95% CI 1.3%–8.5%, p = 0.009; based on z-test for risk difference). The hazard ratio of death comparing intervention with control was 0.79 (95% CI 0.66–0.94, p = 0.009; based on Wald test from Cox regression model), and the number needed to receive the intervention to prevent one death was 21 (95% CI 12–79). The main limitations of the study include the single-site study design, the use of a brief self-administered questionnaire for 2-y outcome data collection, the unavailability of other long-term outcome data (e.g., functional status, nursing home admissions), and the availability of long-term follow-up data on mortality for analysis only in 2014. This is the first trial to our knowledge demonstrating that a collaborative care model of HRA in community-dwelling older people not only results in better health behaviours and increased use of recommended preventive care interventions, but also improves survival. The intervention tested in our study may serve as a model of how to implement a relatively low-cost but effective programme of disease prevention and health promotion in older individuals. International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number: ISRCTN 28458424 The world’s population is getting older. In almost every country, the over–60 age group is growing faster than any other age group. In 2000, globally, there were about 605 million people aged 60 or more; by 2050, 2 billion people (many living in low- and middle-income countries) will be in this age group. But old age is not always a happy and healthy phase of life. Sadly, many older people find that their enjoyment of life is curtailed by chronic illnesses and increasing disability. Moreover, many older people die prematurely. In part, these adverse outcomes are linked to avoidable risk factors, particularly unhealthy lifestyles and failure to engage in preventative care. For example, older people commonly are physically inactive, smoke, drink too much alcohol, or do not have regular blood pressure checks or annual influenza vaccinations. Programs that encourage a healthy lifestyle and the uptake of preventative care among older people are a health policy priority worldwide. But what is the best way to improve health and reduce premature death among older people? One promising approach is “health risk assessment.” In this multidimensional approach, which has been used successfully among working-age populations, older individuals complete a questionnaire to provide information about their risk factors for functional status decline and are subsequently given personalized feedback on how to promote health, maintain function, or prevent disease. Previous studies showed that this approach may improve short-term outcomes such as take-up of preventive care and health behaviors, but the long-term effects on health were unknown. Here, the researchers evaluate the effects of health risk assessment plus counseling on both short-term outcomes and on long-term survival among older people by undertaking a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in Solothurn, Switzerland. A randomized controlled trial compares the outcomes of individuals randomly chosen to receive or not receive an intervention; a pragmatic trial asks whether an intervention works under real-life conditions. The researchers allocated 874 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years or older living in a mixed rural and urban area in Switzerland to receive the intervention (the intervention group) and 1,410 individuals to receive usual care (the control group). The intervention consisted of health risk assessment based on self-administered questionnaires and individualized computer-generated feedback reports, combined with nurse and primary care physician counseling over a two-year period. At baseline, intervention group participants had about seven risk factors on average (including unfavorable health behaviors, health and functional impairments, and social risk factors) and 4–5 deficits in recommended preventative care. At two years, favorable health behaviors and use of preventative care were more frequent in the intervention group than in the control group, and these differences were statistically significant. For example, 70% of the intervention group were physically active compared to 62% of the control group, and 66% of the intervention group had had an influenza vaccination during the past 12 months compared to 59% of the control group. At eight years, 77.9% and 72.8% of the participants in the intervention and control groups, respectively, were still alive. Comparing the intervention group with the control group, the hazard ratio of death was 0.79. Finally, the researchers calculated that, to avert one death over eight years, 21 individuals would need to receive the intervention. These findings show that implementation of a collaborative care model of health risk assessment in community-dwelling older people resulted in better health behaviors, increased use of preventative care, and improved survival. Certain aspects of the trial design may limit the interpretation of these findings. For example, a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the two-year health behavior outcome data, and some participants may have given socially desirable answers (for example, they may have understated their alcohol intake). Also, as the study was undertaken at a single site, these findings may not be generalizable. Moreover, the study was based on complete follow-up information on survival, but no long-term follow-up data were available for functional status outcome. Overall, however, these findings suggest that the use of health risk assessment combined with personal reinforcement of health risk assessment recommendations by specially trained counselors might be an effective and relatively low-cost way to promote good health among non-disabled older people. Moreover, the researchers suggest that it might be possible to adapt this model for use in low- and middle-income countries, where the challenge of a rapidly growing population of older people is greatest. This list of resources contains links that can be accessed when viewing the PDF on a device or via the online version of the article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001889.

Purpose: The world’s population is ageing. Therefore, every doctor should receive geriatric medicine training during their undergraduate education. This review aims to summarise recent developments in geriatric medicine that will potentially inform developments and updating of undergraduate medical curricula for geriatric content. Methods: We systematically searched the electronic databases Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase and Pubmed, from 1st January 2009 to 18th May 2021. We included studies related to (1) undergraduate medical students and (2) geriatric medicine or ageing or older adults and (3) curriculum or curriculum topics or learning objectives or competencies or teaching methods or students’ attitudes and (4) published in a scientific journal. No language restrictions were applied. Results: We identified 2503 records and assessed the full texts of 393 records for eligibility with 367 records included in the thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged: curriculum, topics, teaching methods, teaching settings, medical students’ skills and medical students’ attitudes. New curricula focussed on minimum Geriatrics Competencies, Geriatric Psychiatry and Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment; vertical integration of Geriatric Medicine into the curriculum has been advocated. Emerging or evolving topics included delirium, pharmacotherapeutics, healthy ageing and health promotion, and Telemedicine. Teaching methods emphasised interprofessional education, senior mentor programmes and intergenerational contact, student journaling and reflective writing, simulation, clinical placements and e-learning. Nursing homes featured among new teaching settings. Communication skills, empathy and professionalism were highlighted as essential skills for interacting with older adults. Conclusion: We recommend that future undergraduate medical curricula in Geriatric Medicine should take into account recent developments described in this paper. In addition to including newly emerged topics and advances in existing topics, different teaching settings and methods should also be considered. Employing vertical integration throughout the undergraduate course can usefully supplement learning achieved in a dedicated Geriatric Medicine undergraduate course. Interprofessional education can improve understanding of the roles of other professionals and improve team-working skills. A focus on improving communication skills and empathy should particularly enable better interaction with older patients. Embedding expected levels of Geriatric competencies should ensure that medical students have acquired the skills necessary to effectively treat older patients.

Geriatric medicine has evolved to an accepted specialty in 23 European countries. Despite much heterogeneity of postgraduate geriatric curricula, European societies have succeeded in defining a common core curriculum with a list of minimum training requirements for obtaining the specialty title of geriatric medicine. Geriatricians play a leading role in finding solutions for the challenges of health care of multimorbid older patients. One of these challenges is the demographic shift with the number of adults aged 80 years and older in Europe expected to double by 2050. Although geriatric units will play a role in the care of frail older patients, new care models are needed to integrate the comprehensive geriatric assessment approach for the care of the vast majority of older patients admitted to non-geriatric hospital units. Over the last few years, co-management approaches have been developed to address this gap. Innovative models are also in progress for ambulatory care, prevention and health promotion programs, and long-term care. Efforts to implement geriatric learning objectives in undergraduate training, and the generation of practice guidelines for geriatric syndromes may help to improve the quality of care for older patients.

Physicians’ attitudes, knowledge and skills are powerful determinants of quality of care for older patients. Previous studies found that using educational interventions to improve attitude is a difficult task. No previous study sought to determine if a skills-oriented educational intervention improved student attitudes towards elderly patients.