The older traveler

Travel is a healthy activity for older people and should be encouraged. Travel health advice should be tailored to the individual needs of older individuals, taking account of their preexisting medical conditions, polypharmacy, and physical and sensory limitations that accompany advancing age. Particular attention should be paid in the pretravel consultation to the proposed travel itinerary, medical fitness to fly, travel health insurance coverage, transportation of medications, and accessing medical care abroad. Consideration should be given to venous thromboprophylaxis, jet lag reduction measures, avoidance of thermal stress, acclimatization to altitude, and prevention of accidents and injury. Travel-related infections of particular importance to this age group include malaria, travelers’ diarrhea, and vaccine-preventable infections such as influenza, pneumococcal disease, hepatitis A and B, and typhoid fever. The increased risk of severe systemic effects of yellow fever vaccination in the elderly should prompt a careful risk-benefit analysis by the travel medicine provider.