事件记录
面试官: The highest risk factor for becoming hospitalized and suffering the worst effects of 新型冠状病毒肺炎 is being 65 and older. 大发娱乐请来了老年医学专家. 马克Supiano, who is the Dhief of the Division of Geriatrics at U of U Health. 让大发娱乐从这个问题开始，为什么会这样?
Dr. Supiano: We do know that there are underlying changes in the immune system in an older person that puts them more at risk of getting an infection. They cannot mount the same immune defenses to fight it off. 这是第一个. 其次, there are other physiologic changes in the lungs and the heart, in other responses to an infection that put older people at risk for more complications. So they don't have the functional reserves to compensate for the devastating effects of the COVID infection itself.
面试官: 除了免疫系统的变化, 从65岁开始, 你是这个意思吗?
Dr. Supiano: 是的. 这不是一个固定的数字, 但是你年纪越大, 这些变化就越有可能出现.
面试官: 让你. 所以这是一种线性的下降.
Dr. Supiano: 是的.
面试官: 好吧. 除此之外, are there other reasons why individuals over 65 are more likely to get 新型冠状病毒肺炎 and suffer the worst effects from it?
Dr. Supiano: 我认为这与此有关, and particularly as you go up in years above the age of 65, 所以这是一个非常异质的群体, 但对于75岁及以上的人, 尤其是85岁以上的老人, the likelihood that you have multiple chronic conditions that are also associated with higher risk of COVID, 比如高血压, 糖尿病, 肥胖, 肾脏疾病, 其他风险因素可能会累积. And 风险越大 factors you have 越高 your risk would be.
面试官: So it sounds like if I have a mother or a grandfather that has some of those conditions and they're over 65, I might want to take additional precautions than perhaps if my parent was healthy?
Dr. Supiano: 完全.
面试官: 但仍然超过65岁，这本身就是.
Dr. Supiano: 即使没有这些基本条件, the current information suggests that just age 65 and higher, 再一次。, 越高, 风险越大, but that age alone would be a significant high-risk factor.
面试官: How about the symptoms for people that are 65 and older for 新型冠状病毒肺炎? Are they the typical symptoms that we see in other people?
Dr. Supiano: 所以他们可以. 所以最常见的症状包括发烧, 咳嗽, 乏力, 或者能量损失, 有时腹泻. Those are the most common symptoms that have been reported. But as is true with many other infections in older populations, there's more often unusual presentations of that infection. 例如，可能没有发烧. So older people may not mount a fever in response to the infection. So the absence of a fever should not make you think that the COVID is not a possibility.
Another possibility is that someone who presents with confusion or an acute change in their mental status, 这实际上可能是新冠肺炎的症状. There's also evidence to suggest that an unusual symptom of losing taste or smell could be the first presenting symptom of COVID. So we need to have a heightened level of awareness for unusual ways that COVID might present in an older adult.
面试官: But the trick there to me is how do you differentiate that from just part of the normal aging process? If I understand correctly, loss of taste and smell, kind of common when you start getting older. 当你变老的时候，困惑就会开始出现. 如何确定是否是COVID?
Dr. Supiano: So it's really separating out what we would think about as being usual aging from a potential infection, and the general rule of thumb that I use and I teach our trainees is that age alone is almost never the answer, 正确的? 如果有人带着新的担忧或抱怨过来, we need to think it's our job to find out what's going on, 在这种情况下, 思考的门槛很低, 这可能与COVID有关吗?
面试官: If somebody in your life who is 65 or older then develops one of these COVID symptoms, 不管是正常还是不正常, 这时你该怎么做呢? 你要马上去医院吗? 我想第一件事应该是做个测试.
Dr. Supiano: 所以我认为是第一个 . . . 确切地说,苏格兰人. 幸运的是, with our health system now is very well-equipped to evaluate people with potential COVID-related illness in an environment actually outside of the hospital. We really don't want you bringing that patient into our clinic or directly into the emergency room. They should be evaluated at one of the testing centers where there's the outdoor testing facility. 你不用离开你的车去做检查. 如果需要做进一步的评估, certainly going to urgent care or an emergency room that's equipped to appropriately isolate and manage someone as a potential COVID infection and has the appropriate personal protective equipment and so forth to also protect the other staff and other patients.
面试官: Of course, if you have severe symptoms, difficulty breathing, any of that sort of stuff, then . . .
Dr. Supiano: 不要过路.
面试官: 是的.
Dr. Supiano: 是的，直接去急诊室.
面试官: 好吧. 你是专家. I always love to ask this last question when I've got an expert here behind the microphone. 有一件事是什么, 等大发娱乐谈完了再说, that you would want someone to take away from our conversation?
Dr. Supiano: 洗手. No, 认真, I think the main point is that people 65 and older are considered high-risk, and high-risk individuals need to be extremely vigilant about maintaining these precautions, 洗手就是其中之一, 但是保持身体距离, 戴口罩, 尽量减少接触. 所有 of the things that are on that list, we need to not let down our guard and not be complacent. We need to keep up with those protective measures if we're going to get through this.
面试官: And as a loved one, also do those same things to protect those that I love.
Dr. Supiano: 完全.