Nov 30th, 2022 - Treatment with the investigational anti-amyloid agent lecanemab led to modestly less decline on cognitive and functional measures in the phase III CLARITY AD trial of early Alzheimer's disease, but was associated with adverse events. From a baseline score of about 3.2 on the Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB), mean worsening at 18 months was 1.21 with lecanemab and 1.66 with placebo...

Nov 30th, 2022 - BEIJING (Reuters) -China will speed up COVID-19 vaccinations for elderly people, health officials said on Tuesday, aiming to overcome a key stumbling block in efforts to ease unpopular "zero-COVID" curbs. The move is seen as a crucial element in a strategy to unwind nearly three years of strict curbs that have eroded economic growth, disrupted the lives of millions, and sparked unprecedented we...

Nov 28th, 2022 - Days before the release of promising phase III trial data of lecanemab, an investigational anti-amyloid drug for early Alzheimer's disease, a death possibly linked to the treatment was reported. An unpublished case report featured in Science suggested the death of a 65-year-old lecanemab trial participant with cerebral amyloid angiopathy may have resulted from the drug's possible interactions w...

Nov 23rd, 2022 - Higher dietary intake of total flavonols and individual flavonol constituents was linked with slower cognitive and memory decline in older adults, a longitudinal study showed. Total flavonol intake was associated with lower decline in global cognition (β=0.004, 95% CI 0.001-0.006), according to Thomas Monroe Holland, MD, MS, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and co-authors. Slower d...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - The FDA said it's looking into the risk of severe hypocalcemia among patients on dialysis receiving denosumab (Prolia), citing the potential for severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death. In a safety alert issued on Tuesday, the agency referred to interim results from maker Amgen's ongoing safety study of denosumab, which suggested an increased risk of hypocalcemia in patients with a...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - Among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe chronic breathlessness, short-term daily treatment with low doses of extended-release morphine did not significantly reduce the intensity of worst breathlessness, a randomized trial showed. At 1 week, change in the intensity of worst breathlessness was not significantly different between patients who received 8 mg/day o...

Nov 21st, 2022 - A novel clinical risk score predicted the chance of future dementia with high accuracy, but raised questions from dementia experts. Using data from nearly 450,000 people in the U.K. Biobank cohort, Xi-jian Dai, PhD, of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University in China, and colleagues developed a practical tool to predict individual risk of developing dementia. Age, low education, s...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. Actor Chris Hemsworth learned from genetic test results that he has an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. (People) The FDA approved teplizumab (Tzield), the first drug indicated for delaying the onset of type 1 diabetes. Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their tailored COVID Omicron booster shot has demonstrated activity against ne...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Although older people with atrial fibrillation (Afib) were increasingly willing to initiate and adhere to their prescribed anticoagulants in recent years, this population stayed undertreated as a whole as recently as 2020, a study found. Within those on a Medicare Advantage plan, the proportion of Afib patients filling a prescription for an oral anticoagulant (OAC) within 12 months of diagnosis...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Black individuals showed an accelerated pattern of brain aging beginning in midlife, a cross-sectional analysis of two community-based cohorts showed. Brain aging -- the association of age with cortical thickness and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume -- was greater in late life than midlife for Latinx and white participants but not Black participants, according to Adam Brickman, PhD, of ...

Nov 14th, 2022 - BEIJING (Reuters) - China's National Health Commission on Friday adjusted its COVID-19 prevention and control protocols. Below are the 20 adjusted measures announced - affecting travel, quarantine, lockdowns on businesses and testing as well as other aspects of policy: Quarantine of inbound travellers was shortened to five days at a centralised location plus three days of isolation at home, fro...

Nov 11th, 2022 - Eligible older adults who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) of government food benefits showed slower memory decline than those who didn't participate. SNAP users had about 2 fewer years of cognitive aging over a 10-year period compared with eligible non-users, reported Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, PhD, epidemiologist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public...

Nov 10th, 2022 - Exposure to lead-contaminated drinking water in childhood was tied to lower levels of cognition in late adulthood, U.S. data showed. Older adults who lived as children in cities with lead pipes and acidic or alkaline water that would leach it had lower cognitive functioning at age 72 than others (β -0.408, P<0.01), reported Haena Lee, PhD, of the University in Southern California in Los Angeles...

Nov 9th, 2022 - Subclinical hyperthyroidism may be an independent risk factor for fractures, a community-based cohort study found. In the analysis of nearly 11,000 middle-age individuals, having subclinical hyperthyroidism was tied with a 34% higher risk for subsequent fracture versus those with euthyroidism during a median 21-year follow-up (adjusted HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.09-1.65), according to Stephen P. Jurasch...

Nov 7th, 2022 - Low-dose aspirin did not reduce risks of fracture in healthy older adults, but was associated with an increased risk of serious falls, a substudy of the randomized ASPREE trial showed. Over a median follow-up of 4.6 years, there was no difference in the risk of first fracture between participants who were taking aspirin 100 mg daily and those taking placebo (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.87-1.06, P=0.50), ...

Nov 7th, 2022 - Early signs of Parkinson's disease may emerge 6 years before diagnosis, an analysis of health insurance data showed. Sensory skin changes, diabetes, and inflammatory conditions were more prevalent in people subsequently diagnosed with Parkinson's compared with controls, as were well-known prodromal features like tremor, reported Anette Schrag, MD, PhD, of University College London in England, a...

Nov 3rd, 2022 - People who spend time caring for relatives or friends were significantly more likely than noncaregivers to report having arthritis themselves, federal survey data indicated. Among adult participants in the 2017 and 2019 iterations of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 35.1% of those qualifying as caregivers said they had been diagnosed with some form of arthritis, compared ...

Nov 1st, 2022 - Steer clear of offering hormone therapy as primary prevention for chronic conditions, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advised in an update to its 2017 recommendation. After reviewing new evidence, the Task Force felt with "moderate certainty" that the use of combined estrogen and progestin has no net benefit for the primary prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal peo...

Oct 28th, 2022 - Heart attack survivors who participated in an psychoeducational intervention reported changes in attitude and beliefs around seeking care if they were to again experience acute myocardial infarction (MI) symptoms, a randomized trial from Hong Kong showed. Patients randomized to the intervention group, consisting of five in-person nurse-led sessions in which they discussed and interacted with ed...

Oct 24th, 2022 - About one in 10 U.S. adults over 65 has dementia and even more have mild cognitive impairment, updated national estimates suggested. In a nationally representative cross-sectional study of about 3,500 older adults, 10% (95% CI 9-11) were classified as having dementia and 22% (95% CI 20-24) as having mild cognitive impairment, according to Jennifer Manly, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medic...