Positive news about dementia and AD

[MichaelB]

A couple of recent news items worthy of posting. First, a new blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/health/alzheimers-blood-test.html?searchResultPosition=4

This blood test very, very accurately predicts who’s got Alzheimer’s disease in their brain, including people who seem to be normal,” said Dr. Michael Weiner, an Alzheimer’s disease researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study. “It’s not a cure, it’s not a treatment, but you can’t treat the disease without being able to diagnose it. And accurate, low-cost diagnosis is really exciting, so it’s a breakthrough.”

Second, a new study documents a substantial decline in new cases of dementia in US and Europe. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/health/alzheimers-dementia-rates.html?searchResultPosition=1

Despite the lack of effective treatments or preventive strategies, the dementia epidemic is on the wane in the United States and Europe, scientists reported on Monday.

The risk for a person to develop dementia over a lifetime is now 13 percent lower than it was in 2010. Incidence rates at every age have steadily declined over the past quarter-century. If the trend continues, the paper’s authors note, there will be 15 million fewer people in Europe and the United States with dementia than there are now.

The study is the most definitive yet to document a decline in dementia rates.

 

[MuirWannabe]

The scientists speculate the reduction in dementia rates are related to improved treatments for high blood pressure and cholesterol. They also hypothesize improved education in the US and Europe is a contributing factor.

I can buy into the improved treatment for heart related ailments such as blood pressure. But ascribing improved education as factor doesn’t ‘feel’ right to me. Has higher education really improved that much in the last 20 years? I’d argue it’s become worse. Are that many more people being educated?

Anyways, the two articles are very positive. Let’s hope the trend continues whatever the reasons.

 

[RetMD21]

It isn't college education that makes the difference at least in terms of the population- education level before 18

 

[braumeister]

Could it be simply a case of better educated people being more likely to take better care of their health?

 

[nap470]

My father's side of the family has a history of Alzheimer's and it has always scared myself and my siblings as to what may await us. As we get older and seem to forget things, we immediately fear the worst. My concern with having a test like this done that would identify the disease, is what would health insurance companies do with the information? Refuse coverage, significantly increase premiums? The planning side of me would like to know what awaits me. The emotional side of me is not sure I want to know.

 

[sgstaley]

The scientists speculate the reduction in dementia rates are related to improved treatments for high blood pressure and cholesterol. They also hypothesize improved education in the US and Europe is a contributing factor.

I can buy into the improved treatment for heart related ailments such as blood pressure. But ascribing improved education as factor doesn’t ‘feel’ right to me. Has higher education really improved that much in the last 20 years? I’d argue it’s become worse. Are that many more people being educated?

Anyways, the two articles are very positive. Let’s hope the trend continues whatever the reasons.

I would imagine that how one feels about higher education has a lot to do with their political leanings.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I would imagine that how one feels about higher education has a lot to do with their political leanings.

I’d imagine you’re correct.

 

[Letj]

I would imagine that how one feels about higher education has a lot to do with their political leanings.

+1

 

[travelover]

This blood test very, very accurately predicts who’s got Alzheimer’s disease in their brain, including people who seem to be normal,” said Dr. Michael Weiner

Am I the only one that doesn't want to have this test, knowing there is no cure or even treatment?

 

[Katsmeow]

Am I the only one that doesn't want to have this test, knowing there is no cure or even treatment?

I don't think I would want the test if I was not symptomatic. On the other hand, if I was symptomatic then DH might want to know what he was dealing with...

I also remember a family member that a couple of years ago at about age 89 who fell and broke her hip. She was mentally sharp, using a computer regularly and so on. She had surgery and then started losing weight (she had a condition that made swallowing difficult at times). Over a period of a couple of months she lost a lot of weight and slowly mentally seemed to lose it. It got bad enough that just a couple of months after the surgery she was at home with 24/7 caregivers. At first people thought she might come out of it. But as she got mentally worse, people remembered little things before the fall. Maybe she forgot a name, or was confused. Things that hadn't really been noticed at the time but in retrospect people began to feel that this was the onset of dementia, probably Alzheimer's. She couldn't really afford long term 24/7 care and when it was clear she could not be alone she went to a nursing home.

It would have been nice to have been able to test her and know whether it was Alzheimer's. The situation was just so confusing to me. I felt that the change in behavior was entirely after the surgery and after she started losing weight. But, other could legitimately point to things in the 6 months before that which could have been a sign of cognitive changes.

It ended up having a happy ending. She finally started eating more and gained weight. As she gained weight, her mind cleared and after a couple of months she left the nursing home and went home. The ultimate determination was this was a reaction to surgery and the stress of the injury and the loss of weight. It would have been nice to know that earlier though.

 

[big-papa]

After watching my my wife's mother go through this, along with several of my wife's mother's siblings, we purchased LTC insurance when we turned 50. Not cheap, but I pray we never have to use it. It's an awful disease with a lot of variability to it and the need for care for any individual can last a lot longer than the quoted "average", as we witnessed with my wife's mom.