Aging reshapes medical routines: when less is more for seniors

With age, the risk-benefit calculus of routine care shifts, prompting reconsideration of three practices: treating actinic keratoses on the skin may be overkill for many seniors; many older adults with subclinical hypothyroidism can taper off levothyroxine safely; and colonoscopy screening after age 75 (especially with limited life expectancy) offers tiny cancer-mortality benefit, suggesting some patients may skip or defer the procedure.