1 in 5 Americans has hearing loss — New nationally representative estimate shows wide scope of problem of loss of hearing – 20% of Americans over the age of 12 experience hearing loss in at least one ear. Nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years or older have hearing loss so severe that it may make communication difficult, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Nov. 14 Archives of Internal Medicine.
New analysis from the Nurses’ Health Study: Association of alcohol with risk of breast cancer – Women who consume alcohol show an increase in their risk of developing breast cancer. This relation is stronger for women who drink in binges, are also taking post-menopausal hormonal therapy, and/or have low intakes of dietary folate.
Medicare patients at risk of long-term institutionalization after hospital stay — Discharge to skilled nursing facility a key factor, according to first national study – Confirming many elderly patients’ worst fears, a national study has shown that being hospitalized for an acute event, such as a stroke or hip fracture, can lead to long-term institutionalization in a nursing home.
Blood Tests May Hold Clues to Pace of Alzheimer?s Disease Progression – Researchers found a way to predict how quickly patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will lose cognitive function by looking at ratios of two fatty compounds in their blood.
Diabetes may significantly increase your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – People with diabetes appear to be at a significantly increased risk of developing dementia, revealed by researchers in a recent study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Even mild cognitive impairment appears to substantially increase risk for death – Cognitive impairment, especially at the moderate to severe stages has an impact on life expectancy similar to chronic conditions such as diabetes or chronic heart failure, revealed by Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University researchers in a study “Cognitive Impairment: An Independent Predictor of Excess Mortality. A Cohort Study” published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Premature aging caused by some HIV drugs, study shows – Researchers revealed that a class of anti-retroviral drugs (NRTIs) commonly used to treat HIV can cause premature ageing, as the drugs damage DNA in the patient’s mitochondria. HIV-infected people treated with antiretroviral drugs sometimes show advanced signs of frailty and age-associated diseases such as cardiovascular disease and dementia at an early age.
Study: Memory problems often not present in middle-aged people with Alzheimer’s disease – A new study suggests more than half of people who develop Alzheimer’s disease before the age of 60 are initially misdiagnosed as having other kinds of brain disease when they do not have memory problems.
Differences in brain structure indicate risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease — Thinning of key cortical areas predicts dementia up to a decade in advance – Subtle differences in brain anatomy among older individuals with normal cognitive skills may be able to predict both the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the following decade and how quickly symptoms of dementia would develop.
Stroke survivors with irregular heartbeat may have higher risk of dementia – Stroke survivors who have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation may be at higher risk of developing dementia than stroke survivors who do not have the heart condition, according to research published in the March 8, 2011, print issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Use of Atypical Antipsychotics in Treatment of Dementia Declined After FDA Warning – A warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of dementia was associated with a significant decline in the use of these medications for treating dementia symptoms in elderly patients.
Imaging Procedure Can Identify Biomarker Associated With Alzheimer Disease – Preliminary research suggests that use of a type of molecular imaging procedure may have the ability to detect the presence of beta-amyloid in the brains of individuals during life, a biomarker that is identified during autopsy to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.
