Man sitting on edge of bed looking sad

Alzheimer’s Avoidable?

Angie SzumlinskiNews

As providers, you know the challenges of caring for residents living with memory loss, whether it is a blanket diagnosis of “dementia” or a specific diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, it is devastating for both the resident and the family. Watching loved ones decline to the point of not recognizing their own children can cause frustration and such a huge sense …

Mortality Rates – COVID-19 – Dementia

Angie SzumlinskiNews

Everyone is still reeling from the impact loss of companionship has had on our seniors, up to and including death. I read an interesting article in JAMA Neurology where the researchers evaluated the impact on COVID-19 on residents living with dementia, focused primarily on nursing home settings. The question was “is the COVID-19 pandemic associated with changes in mortality among …

Man sitting on edge of bed looking sad

Alzheimer’s Detection

Angie SzumlinskiNews

It seems like we hear a lot about new and innovative ways to detect early, asymptomatic dementias like Alzheimer’s disease but to date, none of them have been studied well enough to prove they are helpful. Everyone would love to see earlier detection of this horrible disease, as that would lead to earlier treatment, right? Plus, if you think about …

Alzheimer’s Drug Aduhelm Meeting Resistance

Angie SzumlinskiStudies

Alzheimer’s is a horrible, debilitating disease that brings heartbreak and loss to way too many families. It is no wonder that drug manufacturers are working diligently to find a treatment. Sadly, many of the drug trials we have heard about have not been successful so imagine the excitement when Biogen announced they had a treatment option!

COVID virus attacking nerves

Alzheimer’s Disease and COVID-19

Angie SzumlinskiStudies

Neurodegenerative disorders that cause dementia increase the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 and dying from the disease. For people with Alzheimer’s the risk is three times greater. It can be six times greater if they are over 80 years old according to a study conducted in Brazil by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and Butantan Institute in …

Anticholinergic Medications and Dementia

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

An estimated 47 million people worldwide were living with dementia in 2015, while in the United States, around 5.7 million people have Alzheimer’s dementia. Modifiable risk factors, including hypertension, hearing loss, depression, diabetes, and smoking, account for around 35% of dementia cases. Anticholinergic drugs are another potentially modifiable risk factor. This broad group of drugs acts by blocking the neurotransmitter …

Predict the Future

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

A team of researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified that a simple blood test, couple with brief memory tests, showed who will develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future (within 2-6 years) with a high degree of accuracy (90%). “We show for the first time that a time- and cost-effective diagnostic algorithm clearly outperforms the clinical work-up typically done …

FDA Grants Accelerated Approval for Alzheimer’s Drug

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, News

On June 7, 2021 the FDA approved a new treatment for Alzheimer’s – Aduhelm (aducanumab). The approval was granted through the “accelerated approval pathway, which can be used for a drug for a serious or life-threatening illness that provides a meaningful therapeutic advantage over existing treatments”. The director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., …

Effect of Sodium Benzoate on Cognitive Function

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

Age and female gender are 2 major risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD); two-thirds of older adults with AD are women. Even regarding the difference in longevity, studies suggest that women are still at a higher risk. Among various aging and dementia theories, altered N-MethylD-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-related neurotransmission is involved in dementia manifestations, including cognitive and behavioral domains. NMDAR overactivation …