TOPLINE:

Minor ailments were common in older adults, often lasting beyond 2 weeks, and many were managed with over-the-counter drugs or a wait-and-see approach.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey over a 2-week recall period to evaluate the commonality of minor ailments among adults aged 65 years or older in a Canadian province and how they were managed.
• They assessed 31 minor ailments; participants reported their symptoms, how long they lasted, how much the symptoms affected their daily lives, what they did to treat them, and how satisfied and confident they felt with their treatment.
• The final analysis included responses from 356 participants (mean age, 72.8 years; 55.1% women).

TAKEAWAY:

• Participants reported an average of 6.2 symptoms in 2 weeks. The most common symptoms were back pain (46.9%), joint pain (44.4%), and insomnia (38.5%).
• Most symptoms lasted beyond 2 weeks, including 100% of cases of vaginal dryness and 98.7% of those of joint pain. Joint pain was the most disruptive.
• Over-the-counter medicines were the most frequent treatment choice for 16 symptoms, with the highest use for headaches (63.2%) and heartburn (61.2%). A wait-and-see approach was most common for 13 symptoms, notably for tinnitus (80.5%) and loneliness (74.2%).
• Participants felt most satisfied with the treatments for cold sores and headaches (mean scores, 5.4 and 5.3, respectively, on a 7-point scale) and felt most confident managing those. They felt least confident managing erectile dysfunction, tinnitus, and nail fungus.

IN PRACTICE:

“Healthcare providers should continue to recognize minor ailments as an integral aspect of geriatric care,” the authors of the study wrote. 

SOURCE:

This study was led by Jeffrey Taylor of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was published online on December 1, 2025, in Journal of Primary Care & Community Health.

LIMITATIONS:

Symptoms were self-reported by the participants without clinical verification. Findings reflected a single timepoint in late fall and early winter when certain allergies were less common.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy, the Canadian Hub for Applied Social Research, and the University of Saskatchewan. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.