Geriatrics News

Dementia rates in low- and middle-income countries were approximately twice as high as the rates reported using DSM-IV criteria, according to the 10/66 Dementia Research Group. The London-based research organization’s study results may support evidence for the cognitive reserve hypothesis, namely that education, literacy, verbal fluency and motor sequencing can provide substantial protection against the onset of dementia.

Delirium was associated with a significant decline in cognitive ability during the first year after cardiac surgery, according to study results. Researchers identified a trajectory characterized by an initial decline and prolonged impairment.

Elderly adults without dementia who have diabetes and struggle with maintaining glycemic control are at risk for accelerated cognitive decline, based on research from a prospective cohort study. 

Study participants who were encouraged to “feel old” performed significantly worse on a range of cognitive tests, according to research from the University of Exeter in England.

An initiative announced recently by the CMS seeks to improve dementia care in nursing homes by reducing residents’ use of antipsychotic medications by 15% by the end of the year.

Posttraumatic stress disorder in older patients is more prevalent than previously reported and is associated with a significant number of comorbid psychiatric disorders, according to researchers.

Attitudes of professionals and of the general public toward the elderly are very similar. In 1969, Dr. Robert Butler coined the term “ageism” to describe the phenomenon of discrimination against elderly people in American society.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a national plan to address Alzheimer’s disease. The five-point initiative, which is part of the Obama administration’s National Alzheimer’s Project Act, calls for the development of effective prevention and treatment approaches to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Antipsychotic medication was associated with a modest and time-limited increased risk for MI among older patients treated with cholinesterase inhibitors for dementia, according to data from a newly published study.

Researchers used MRIs of 14 healthy brains to create models that accurately represented the spread of dementia along neuronal pathways. The models closely matched actual MRIs of 36 patients with dementia — 18 with Alzheimer’s disease and 18 with frontotemporal dementia.