January 20, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Early-onset Alzheimer's advocate Bruce Vincent dies at 51, Davos tackles longevity, and George Vradenburg calls on the US to double Alzheimer's research dollars (read more). 
 

 

Must reads

  • A January 20, 2014 Boston Globe article reported on the death of Bruce Vincent, a Boston man who suffered from "an especially cruel, inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease that strikes at an early age" - the Boston Globe chronicled Vincent's journey with Alzheimer's in a series of articles in 2011. According to the article, "Vincent spent his final years enrolled in a Mass. General study of an especially cruel, inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease that strikes at an early age. Vincent’s mother, grandfather, and great-grandfather all died of dementia in their 50s.The early-onset form is rare, accounting for only about 4 percent of the estimated 5 million Americans with the disease. Still, researchers have been studying Vincent and other families with this inherited trait in the belief it may help them understand, and ultimately tame, a disease that has defied treatments."
  • A January 20, 2014 UPI article reported on the challenges increased longevity creates for the global healthcare system. According to the article, "At Davos in the Swiss Alps this week, the bankers and thinkers and business leaders who constitute the Amen Corner of globalization will be addressing the implications of longevity and demographics. One leading issue, already alarming politicians and officials in countries, is what this means for health costs...But to take this at face value and conclude that the elderly are the problem would be to make a mistake. The data also reveal that the problem is that the nature of medical care is changing. Traditionally, medicine dealt with acute problems, like a broken limb or a sudden illness, fixed the ailment and the patient usually returned to normal life. Increasingly, however, medicine is dealing with chronic problems that go on for years. Illnesses are more and more being managed rather than cured." 
  • A January 18, 2014 Digital Journal article reported that "The omnibus spending bill unveiled by U.S. Congress this week would restore some research budgets cut by sequestration. However, the total allocated remains lower, in real terms, compared with previous years." According to Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley, "Funding for the National Institutes of Health has been kept well below the level of scientific opportunity."
  •  A January 17, 2014 LifeHealthPro article reported that USA2 Chairman George Vradenburg "said the United States should double spending on Alzheimer's research to $1 billion, from $500 million today, and commit to spending about 1 percent of the total cost of Alzheimer's on dementia-related biomedical research." According to the article, "Witnesses conceded that rich countries spend more on dementia care today, but they said the cost of dementia care is also a growing financial burden in poor countries."