Alzheimers News & Features

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 88, told “friends and fellow Americans” in a letter Tuesday that her doctors diagnosed her with the beginning stages of dementia "some time ago.”

Research has shown that herpes increases Alzheimer's risk in people genetically predisposed to dementia, New data suggest that treating people with antiviral drugs might actually protect them from dementia, scientists say.

Researchers have found that 2.5 hours of walking or other physical activity a week thwarted mental decline tied to an inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease that leads to dementia at an early age.

By 2060, an estimated 13.9 million Americans are expected to have Alzheimer’s disease, equaling nearly 3.3 percent of a projected population of 417 million people, the CDC says. That’s almost three times as many as were affected in 2014, 5 million – or 1.6 percent of the population.

The long-term study included 123 adults with an average age of 60 when the study began. The findings showed that those who were very sleepy during the day had a nearly threefold increased risk of developing brain deposits of beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Specifically, improvements in average thinking ("cognitive") skills in the summer and fall were equivalent to nearly 5 years less in age-related declines in thinking ability, the investigators found.

The association between stroke and increased dementia risk remained even after other dementia risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease were taken into account, the researchers say.

The newly identified genes suggest that an inflammatory response and changes in the production of certain proteins contribute to brain deterioration in Alzheimer's patients.

Patients with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma had a 40 to 50 percent greater risk of Alzheimer's disease than those without the eye conditions, the authors of a new study report.

A promising new drug appears to be especially good at sopping up toxic pieces of beta amyloid protein that stick together in the brain and form the clumps that are a key characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say.

Dementia patients who took sleeping pills had a 40 percent higher risk of fractures, and that risk increased with higher doses of the drugs, researchers report. Fractures, particularly hip fractures, increase the risk of premature death, the scientists noted.

Aggressively lowering high blood pressure to a goal of 120/80—the definition of normal—may trim the risk of developing the kind of thinking and memory changes that lead to dementia by about 15%, compared with people with higher blood pressures, according to new research presented at the 2018 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago.

Canadian researchers found that a form of synthetic THC – ingredient in pot that gets you high - significantly decreased agitation in a small group of Alzheimer's patients, working even better than the drugs now used.

Changing the lighting in nursing homes to regulate residents’ sleep and wake cycles helped decrease sleep disturbance, depression and agitation in people with Alzheimer’s, the authors of a new study say.

Nearly 6 out of 10 people with probable dementia were either undiagnosed or unaware of their diagnosis, a review of data from 585 Medicare recipients has found.

The tests that doctors use to diagnose Alzheimer’s catch women later in the disease, a problem that may deny women early care, overdiagnose some men and skew research findings, according to a new study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago.

1 in 9 U.S. Adults Over 45 Reports Memory Issues By Steven Reinberg                  HealthDay Reporter         FRIDAY, July 13, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- If you're middle-aged and you think you're losing your memory, you're not alone, a new U.S. government report shows.In fact, one in nine Americans aged 45 and older say they are experiencing thinking declines. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noticing a decline in your mental abilities ("cognitive decline") is one of the earliest signs of impending Alzheimer's disease

Some robots help patients in and out of bed, remind them to take medication, measure their mood and provide regular updates to human caregivers.

Human herpes virus 6 and 7 were found in Alzheimer's-affected brains at levels up to twice as high as in those without Alzheimer's, the scientists reported Thursday.

The researchers found that people at age 50 had an increased risk of dementia later in life if their systolic pressure was higher than 130.

And while it’s never too late to benefit from healthy changes in your life, studies show that starting early may mean extra protection decades later.

People face the most risk if they have high amyloid levels, brain shrinkage and early signs of mild cognitive impairment, the researchers explained. This impairment usually crops up as memory loss.

Many factors could be involved in the findings, including differences in lifestyle and overall health. Also, affluent people have greater social and cultural opportunities that allow them to remain actively engaged with the world.

Factors associated with better quality of life included good relationships, social engagement, better daily functioning, good physical and mental health, and high-quality care.

An experimental automated system called "DRESS" might someday help Alzheimer's patients to dress themselves without a human assistant.