July 18, 2016

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A July 15, 2016 The Fiscal Times article reported that a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that “about 25 percent of the $650 billion of annual spending on Medicare goes for the treatment and care of elderly people in the final year of their lives.” According to the article, “The report says that it’s hardly surprising that a “disproportionate share” of Medicare resources goes to beneficiaries at the end of life. Many of those beneficiaries suffer serious illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, congestive heart failure, kidney problems, cancer and multiple chronic conditions that require inpatient hospitalization, post-acute care and hospice…Per capita Medicare spending was nearly four times higher for those who died in 2014 than others who survived -- $34,529 for the decedents to just $9,121 for those who lived.”

A July 15, 2016 Forbes.com article reported that “health insurer Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, Davis are launching a clinical study to assess risk factors early in life that affect a person’s chances of developing dementia later in life.” According to the article, “The five-year, $13 million study will revisit physical exams done on Kaiser insurance holders in the 1960s through the 1980s to evaluate both risk and protective factors for cognitive decline among 1,800 ethnically and racially diverse seniors. The longitudinal study will enroll an equal number of white, black, Asian, Latino and Latina men and women over age 65 who do not have a current diagnosis of dementia.”

A July 15, 2016 Philly.com article highlighted the link between diabetes and dementia. According to the article, “Add one more you and even your doctor may not have heard is connected: dementia. Diabetes at least doubles your risk of developing it. Even diabetics without dementia can have subtle cognitive problems. ‘Your average diabetologist, internal medicine doctor, they're still not aware of that information,’ said Luke Stoeckel, a neuropsychologist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. ‘That's eye-opening to people.’”

A July 12, 2016 Mayo Clinic article reported that “Newly postmenopausal women who received estrogen via a skin patch had reduced beta-amyloid deposits, the sticky plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, a Mayo Clinic study published this month in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found.”