January 05, 2018

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

MUST READS

A January 4, 2018 St. Louis Post-Dispatch letter to the editor by Sue Jernigan, who was caregiver to a mother with Alzheimer’s and a husband with a stroke, responded to a December 23, 2017 letter to the editor. As an only child, Jernigan juggled the care burden with self-employment. She writes, “Mom worked to the age of 78 and retired with about $165,000. When she could no longer live alone, she used all her resources for nursing home care. Within three years that money was gone, and I was put in a position to sell my family home and give the money to the nursing facility. The home was sold. I inherited nothing.”



A January 3, 2018 Alzheimer’s News Today article looked back at the top 10 most-read Alzheimer’s stories of 2017. The subjects ranged from the use of medical marijuana to improve dementia symptoms and slow or prevent disease progression, current and upcoming drug trials, bilingualism as a brain protector that builds more nerve cell connections in the frontal part of the brain, diet, sleep, aluminum levels in the brain, and the IDEAS study.


INDUSTRY UPDATE

A January 4, 2018 Alzheimer’s News Today article reported that the Alzheimer’s therapy BAN2401 Phase 2 clinical trial will continue for another six months to determine if the drug is effective, meaning functional decline is slowed better than a placebo. Researchers had hoped for conclusive results at 12 months using the Alzheimer’s Disease Composite Score, but it was inconclusive. By the end of 2018, they will use an an index called the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes, along with PET and MRI scans.  


EVENTS AND RESOURCES

A January 4, 2018 Consumer Reports article looked at five ways caregivers can offset the costs of caregiving, including income loss. According to AARP, unpaid caregivers spend almost $7,000 a year on out-of-pocket expenses. People who leave jobs can lose upwards of $200-300K, including Social Security benefits. “There are a handful of ways you may be able to get paid. But programs and policies vary from state to state, and even in the best of circumstances, it can be difficult,” said Sima Schoen of the Family Caregiver Alliance.