By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — About one million Americans a 12 months are expected to develop dementia by 2060, about twice as many as today, researchers reported Monday.

It's a sobering number, but there are steps people can take to cut back this risk, resembling controlling hypertension and other health problems that negatively impact the brain. And even in middle age, it's not too late to try.

“All of our research suggests that what you do in midlife really matters,” said Dr. Josef Coresh from NYU Langone Health, co-author of the study within the journal Nature Medicine.

Dementia just isn’t just Alzheimer's

As you become old, it's typical to take longer to recollect a reputation or where you left your keys. But dementia just isn’t a traditional a part of aging – it’s a progressive lack of memory, language and other cognitive functions. Aging alone poses the best risk and the population is aging rapidly.

Alzheimer's is probably the most common form, and silent brain changes that eventually result in it will possibly begin twenty years before symptoms appear. Other forms include vascular dementia, through which heart disease or small strokes affect blood flow to the brain. Many people have mixed causes, meaning vascular problems can worsen emerging Alzheimer's symptoms.

Measuring risk from a given age across the potential remaining lifespan can guide public health recommendations and medical research.

“It is not a guarantee that someone will develop dementia,” warned Dr. James Galvin, Alzheimer's specialist on the University of Miami. He was not involved in the brand new study but said the outcomes were consistent with other research.

The risk of dementia varies depending on age

Previous studies estimated that about 14% of men and 23% of ladies would develop some type of dementia during their lifetime. Coresh's team analyzed recent data from a U.S. study that tracked the center health and cognitive function of about 15,000 older adults over several a long time.

What is essential is that the chance changes over the a long time.

Only 4% of individuals developed dementia between the ages of 55 and 75, which Coresh describes as a very important 20-year window to guard brain health.

For individuals who survive common health threats until age 75, the chance of dementia then skyrockets – to twenty% by age 85 and to 42% between ages 85 and 95.

Overall, the lifetime risk of dementia after age 55 was 35% for men and 48% for ladies, the researchers concluded. Women generally live longer than men, a key reason for this difference, Coresh noted. Black Americans had a rather higher risk at 44% than white Americans at 41%.

Yes, there are methods to cut back the chance of dementia

There are some risk aspects that folks cannot control, including age and whether you’ve got inherited a gene variant called APOE4, which increases the chance of Alzheimer's disease late in life.

But people can try to forestall or a minimum of delay health problems that contribute to later dementia. Coresh, for instance, wears a helmet when cycling because repeated or severe brain injuries from accidents or falls increase the chance of later dementia.

Most importantly, “What's good for your heart is good for your brain,” added Miami's Galvin. He urges people to exercise, avoid obesity and control blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol.

For example, hypertension can affect blood flow to the brain, which not only poses a risk of vascular dementia but can also be related to some features of Alzheimer's disease. Likewise, high blood sugar levels in poorly controlled diabetes are related to cognitive decline and harmful inflammation within the brain.

Also stay socially and cognitively energetic, Galvin said. He urges people to try hearing aids if age brings hearing loss, which may result in social isolation.

“There are things we have control over, and those things I think would be very, very important in building a better brain as we age,” he said.

Originally published: January 14, 2025 at 11:34 am PST

Wendy Williams' health battle has taken a turn for the more severe. According to her guardian, the previous talk show host is now “permanently unable to work” on account of her dementia diagnosis.

In recent condition Court documents obtained and published by the deadlineWilliams' guardian confirms that she “suffers from early-onset dementia and as a result has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”

In May 2023, Williams was diagnosed with primary aggressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, only a yr after she was placed under guardianship. The court-ordered guardianship oversees each their health and their funds.

The Nov. 12 court filing involves Williams' guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, and the “Where's Wendy Williams?” Documentary. Morrissey filed a lawsuit to stop the discharge of the Lifetime show, which detailed her struggles with health and alcohol abuse since her exit from “The Wendy Williams Show.”

Morrissey's team also alleges that the documentary's makers “deliberately manipulated and incited” them “in order to elicit strong emotional reactions and obtain embarrassing footage.”

life to have acquired claims “Consent, input and participation” to film the documentary before the talk show host ever had a guardian.

After “The Wendy Williams Show” ended after 12 years in 2022 on account of her health, Williams was replaced by Sherri Shepherd, who’s now filming “SHERRI” in the identical studio.

Originally published: November 27, 2024 at 11:24 am PST

Judith Graham, KFF Health News (TNS)

Sociologist Elena Portacolone was amazed. Many of the older adults in San Francisco whose homes she visited as a part of a research project were confused when she got here to the door. They had forgotten the appointment or didn't remember chatting with her.

It seemed clear that that they had some kind of cognitive impairment. Yet they lived alone.

Portacolone, an associate professor on the University of California-San Francisco, wondered how common this was. Had anyone researched this group? How did they get along?

When she reviewed the research literature greater than a decade ago, there was little to be found. “I realized this is a largely invisible population,” she said.

Portacolone set to work and is now in charge “Living alone with cognitive impairment” project. at UCSF. The project appreciates that that within the United States, not less than 4.3 million people age 55 and older live alone with cognitive impairment or dementia.

According to their study, about half have problems with on a regular basis activities resembling bathing, eating, cooking, shopping, taking medication and managing money. But just one in three received help with not less than one such activity.

Compared to other older adults who live alone, people living alone with cognitive impairments are older, more prone to be women, and disproportionately Black or Latino, with lower levels of education, wealth, and residential ownership. Still only 21% qualify for publicly funded programs resembling Medicaid that pay aides to offer services in the house.

In a health system that assumes older adults have family caregivers to assist them, “we realized this population was destined to fall through the cracks,” Portacolone said.

Imagine what meaning. As memory and pondering problems increase, these seniors may lose track of their bills, have their power turned off, or face eviction. You may stop shopping (it's too overwhelming) or cooking (it's too difficult to follow recipes). Or they could not have the ability to speak clearly or navigate automated telephone systems.

Quite a lot of other problems may end up, including social isolation, malnutrition, self-neglect and vulnerability to fraud. Without someone to take care of them, older adults can find their health deteriorating without anyone noticing or scuffling with dementia without ever being diagnosed.

Should at-risk seniors live like this?

For years, Portacolone and her staff have supported nearly 100 older adults with cognitive impairments who live alone across the country. She listed some concerns that researchers were most fearful about: “Who do I trust?” When will I forget next? If I believe I would like more help, where can I find it? How do I hide my forgetfulness?”

Jane Lowers, an assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, has studied “kinless” adults within the early stages of dementia – those with out a spouse or children nearby. Her top priority, she told me, was “to remain independent for as long as possible.”

To learn more about these seniors' experiences, I contacted the National Council of Dementia Minds. The organization launched a bi-weekly online group last yr for individuals with dementia living alone. Staff arranged a Zoom call with five people, all with early to moderate dementia.

One of them was Kathleen Healy, 60, who has significant memory problems and lives alone in Fresno, California.

“One of the biggest challenges is that people don’t really see what’s going on with you,” she said. “Let’s say my house is in chaos, I’m sick, or I lose track of my bills. If I can get myself together, I can walk out the door and no one knows what’s going on.”

Healy was a Fresno city clerk for 28 years and said she needed to retire in 2019 “because my brain stopped working.” She can cover her expenses together with her pension, but has neither significant savings nor assets.

Healy said she will be able to't depend on members of the family who’re struggling themselves. (Her 83-year-old mother has dementia and lives with Healy's sister.) The one that checks on her most frequently is an ex-boyfriend.

“I don’t really have anyone,” she said, choking.

David West, 62, is a divorced former social employee Lewy body dementiawhich might affect pondering and concentration and cause hallucinations. He lives alone in an apartment in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.

“I won’t survive this in the end – I know that – but I will face it steadfastly,” he said once I spoke to him on the phone in June.

Since his diagnosis nearly three years ago, West has filled his life with exercise and joined three dementia support groups. He spends as much as 20 hours per week volunteering at a restaurant, food bank, museum, etc Dementia Friendly Fort Worth.

Still, West knows that his illness will progress and that this era of relative independence is proscribed. What will he do then? Even though he has three adult children, he said, he couldn't expect them to take him in and develop into a dementia caregiver – a very stressful, time-consuming and financially burdensome commitment.

“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” he said.

Denise Baker, 80, a former CIA analyst, lives together with her dog Yolo in a 100-year-old house in Asheville, North Carolina. She has cognitive problems related to a stroke 28 years ago, Alzheimer's disease and a severe visual impairment that stops her from driving. Their adult daughters live in Massachusetts and Colorado.

“I'm a very independent person and want to do everything I can,” Baker told me months before Asheville was hit by severe flooding. “It makes me feel better.”

She was lucky after Hurricane Helene: Baker lives on a hill in West Asheville that was spared from flooding. Every day within the week immediately following the storm, she filled water jugs at an old well near her home and brought them back in a wheelbarrow. Even though her power was out, she had plenty to eat and the neighbors checked in on her.

“I'm absolutely fine,” she told me on the phone in early October, in line with a member of Dementia Friendly Western North Carolina drove to Baker's house to examine on her at my request. Baker is a member of that organization's steering committee.

Baker used to have a tough time asking for help, but nowadays she routinely relies on friends and hired help. A couple of examples: Elaine goes shopping every Monday. Roberta comes once a month to assist together with her mail and funds. Jack mows her lawn. Helen provides advice on care management. Tom, a taxi driver she met through the Buncombe County Senior Transportation Program, is her go-to person for errands.

Her daughter Karen in Boston has the authority to make legal and health decisions if Baker becomes unable to achieve this. When that day comes — and Baker knows it can — she expects her long-term care insurance to pay for home help or memory care. Until then, “I plan on doing as much as I can in the state I'm in,” she said.

Much will be done to higher support older adults with dementia who’re fending for themselves, said Elizabeth Gould, co-director of the National Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute. “If health care providers would simply ask, 'Who do you live with?'” she said, “that could open the door to identifying who may need more help.”

Almost half of all dementia cases might be delayed or prevented by considering 14 possible risk aspects, including vision loss and high cholesterol.

That means crucial results of a brand new study which we and our colleagues published within the journal The Lancet.

dementiaa rapidly growing global challenge, affects an estimated 57 million people worldwide, and this number is anticipated to rise to 153 million by 2050 worldwide. Although the Dementia is on the decline In high-income countries, it stays Increase in low- and middle-income countries.

This third updated report of the Lancet Commission on Dementia comprises excellent news and a robust message: politicians, clinicians, individuals and families can take ambitious motion to forestall and reduce the danger of dementia and improve the standard of lifetime of individuals with dementia and their caregivers through evidence-based approaches.

The latest report confirms 12 potentially modifiable risk aspects already identified in two previous reports. published in 2017 And 2020It also provides latest evidence for 2 other modifiable risk aspects: vision loss and high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterolsometimes called “bad” cholesterol.

Our review of the published evidence found that addressing 14 modifiable risk aspects could reduce the prevalence of dementia by 45% globally. Even greater risk reductions could also be possible in low- and middle-income countries, and for low-income people in higher-income countries, given higher prevalence of dementiahealth inequalities and risk aspects in these populations.

The report also suggests that reducing these 14 risks can increase the variety of healthy years of life and reduce the time spent in sick health in individuals with dementia.

In addition, the report cites clinical studies showing that non-pharmacological approaches, reminiscent of using activities tailored to interests and talents, Reduce dementia-related symptoms and improve quality of life.

We are a General internist and a Applied sociologist and intervention scientistand our work focuses on memory and well-being in older adults. Together with 25 other internationally recognized dementia experts under the leadership of psychiatry professor Gill Livingston, Research Associatewe fastidiously reviewed the evidence to derive recommendations for prevention, intervention and care.

Why it’s important

The rapid growth of the world’s ageing population is a triumph of higher public and private health across the lifespan. But given the shortage of a cure for dementia, that is Report highlights the importance of prevention and to enhance the standard of life of individuals diagnosed with dementia.

In the brand new report, our team proposed an ambitious dementia prevention programme that might be implemented at individual, community and policy levels and across the lifespan from early to middle and late life. The key points are:

• Improving general education at a young age.
• In midlife: Treatment of hearing loss, high LDL cholesterol, depression, traumatic brain injury, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption.
• In later life, social isolation, air pollution and vision loss decrease.

Taken together, these aspects result in the Lancet Commission on Dementia's estimate that dementia risk will be reduced by 45%. And a wealth of latest research shows that tackling risk aspects reminiscent of exposure to air pollution is linked to: improved cognition and sure reduction in dementia risk.

New evidence supports the concept in high-income countries, reducing the danger of dementia may translate into more healthy years, years freed from dementia, and shorter disease duration in individuals who develop dementia.

What just isn’t yet known

The 45% reduction in the danger of dementia in the worldwide population is predicated on a calculation that assumes that risk aspects are causal and will be eliminated. It shows the importance of dementia prevention and the impact it will have on individuals and families.

The Commission stressed that more research is required to discover additional risk aspects, examine changes in risk aspects in clinical trials, provide guidance for public health efforts, and discover and evaluate strategies for implementing and scaling up evidence-based programs to support individuals with dementia and their caregivers.

The updated report has global public health and research implications and will likely be widely shared, guiding clinicians and policymakers and outlining latest research directions.

The Research Brief is a summary of interesting scientific papers.

Latest technology in healthcare

About 3 million years ago, our brains grew larger, helping us master all the pieces from cave painting to particle physics.

Now we’re in a contemporary growth spurt.

A brand new study by researchers at UC Davis Health found that the brains of individuals born within the Seventies had 6.6% greater volume and nearly 15% greater brain surface area than those of individuals born within the Thirties years were born.

“We found that the brain gets bigger every ten years,” said neurologist Dr. Charles DeCarli, principal investigator of the study, in a recent issue of the journal JAMA Neurology. It was based on an evaluation of hundreds of volunteers within the famous Framingham Heart Study.

This doesn't prove we're getting smarter, although other studies suggest this trend. In the human brain, size isn't all the pieces; The cabling can be vital.

However, based on DeCarli, larger brains could increase so-called “mental reserve” and potentially reduce the general risk of age-related dementia. Perhaps this explains the recent decline in the proportion of individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease. as reported within the New England Journal of Medicine 2016.

“It could harbor more connections that help organize the brain and make it more resilient, leading to a better ability to withstand aging,” he said.

The Framingham Heart Study, over seven a long time old, stores data on hundreds of individuals living in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is the longest-running and most comprehensive project of its kind in medical history.

To study brain changes, Davis scientists didn't measure the squishy, ​​three-pound lump inside each human skull. Rather, they measured brain scans of three,226 people, which were created using MRI and painlessly visualize the structure of the brain. The MRIs were performed between 1999 and 2019 on greater than 3,000 healthy Framingham residents who were born between the Thirties and Seventies and had a mean age of about 57 years.

They then compared the photographs of individuals from three different eras: the silent generation of the Thirties, the infant boomers of the Fifties and Generation X born within the Seventies.

Their evaluation revealed that the quantity and surface area of ​​the brain weren’t the one regions that grew over time. Two other key areas – the white matter, which comprises connective fibers and transmits nerve signals, and the hippocampus, which processes memory – also grew by 5.7% to 7.7%.

The increase in white matter suggests that brain cells are more connected to one another, DeCarli said.

The increase can’t be explained by the expansion of the remaining of the body. People born within the Thirties had a mean height of 66 inches, in comparison with 67.6 inches for those born within the Seventies. But even after adjusting for body size, their brains were larger.

While there was a gradual increase in IQ test scores across generations—about 3 points per decade—this may occasionally be on account of improvements in education, life experiences, and test-taking, fairly than intelligence. It's difficult to check the intelligence of various generations, DeCarli said.

Scientists have long studied the evolutionary history of our brains to know how and once they grew to enable the event of sophisticated skills. The human brain is gigantic in relation to our body size. It is 3 times larger than that of chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. It also has special anatomical features.

At a vital time in human evolution, around 3 to 4 million years ago, the scale of the human brain increased dramatically. A set of three nearly an identical genes appears to play a vital role on this development, based on a study by David Haussler, professor of biomolecular engineering and scientific director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute. Other mutations could also prove vital.

Early hominins like and have relatively small brains. Fossils of the primary type show larger brains. Our brains are even larger.

However, the expansion found by the Davis team was not on account of evolution, DeCarli said. It's too latest.

“It can’t be a genetic effect. It’s more likely that it’s environmental,” DeCarli said. “We don't know what these things are, but I suspect they have to do with better prenatal care, better nutrition, better education, and perhaps a more 'improved' environment.”

Experts not involved within the project said the outcomes were provocative.

“Although these findings are new to our field, the significant advances over four decades are fascinating,” Prashanthi Vemuri, a neuroimaging scientist on the Mayo Clinic, wrote an editorial on the study. If that is confirmed, it would be vital to look at what’s driving this trend, she said.

“Replication of these results in other cohorts is essential,” she said. “If these results are confirmed by others and the observed differences per decade are as large as those reported, this will have important implications for aging and dementia studies.”

The study has limitations. The participants are healthy, well-educated and belong to the center class. They are just about all non-Latino white and don’t reflect the varied U.S. population.

Finally, it didn’t include individuals who had disadvantaged childhoods. If a bigger brain is protective, such disparities could increase the danger of dementia.

“We haven’t looked at populations that are suffering from adversity,” DeCarli said. “And I suspect they don’t experience the same changes over time.”

People with dementia living in long-term care facilities spend a significant slice of their income on care every month, in keeping with an October 2023 study published within the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA). The study found that the common adult with dementia in an assisted living facility spent just about all of their income (97%) on care every month, and people with dementia living in nursing homes spent 83% of their income on care every month care.

Currently, nearly 7 million Americans reside with Alzheimer's disease, probably the most common type of dementia, says Monica Moreno, senior director of care and support on the Alzheimer's Association, a nonprofit organization that supports and advocates for those affected by the disease. “We also know that Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease with no cure.”

As a result, because the disease progresses, people require more care, and the burden of providing—and paying for—that care often falls on their families.

“Many of them have made really responsible financial decisions throughout their lives, but no one is prepared for these costs at the end of their lives,” says Dana Eble, public relations and outreach manager on the Alzheimer's Caregiver Network, a support network for care partners. “People didn’t even know they had to save so much money.”

Out of Estate planning Here are some strategies to allow you to support your family members.

Understand the financial and legal picture

Have an open conversation about funds. What is the income and spending situation of your relatives and the way much are they saved? How are the care costs covered? And what do you wish when it comes to care throughout the course of your illness?

“Don’t wait to have these difficult conversations,” says Moreno. “Then when the family is faced with these decisions, they don’t have to wonder if they’re doing the right things.”

Also discuss existing estate planning – or what must be done. A solid estate plan typically features a will Living will and each financial and medical Powers of attorney. If the person you're caring for is ready, declaring a guardian if essential can also be helpful, says Colleen Carcone, certified financial planner and director of estate planning strategies at financial services firm TIAA. This allows someone to call the person they would favor to have as guardian of themselves and their property within the event of incapacity.

“Once you get that diagnosis, you know this is going to happen,” Carcone says. “It will be extremely important to take the extra steps to ensure all your i’s are dotted and crossed.”

Consult local and national resources

Your local senior agency will inform you about programs and services in your area, equivalent to: B. Meals on Wheels, transportation programs and grocery deliveries. Find local locations using the Eldercare Locator search engine at eldercare.acl.gov.

National groups will also be helpful: The Alzheimer's Association, for instance, has a 24-hour hotline and may offer you state-specific information. For example, Moreno points to a law in Illinois that goals to guard an individual living at home if their spouse has been placed in a long-term care facility.

“It allows them to keep a certain amount of income each month and keep their primary residence,” Moreno says. Some of the more devastating stories, she says, come from families who only realized the law existed after they’d exhausted all their assets. “These are the things that families need to find out about,” she says.

If your beloved is a veteran, check with the Department of Veterans Affairs to see what advantages they might be eligible for. “My father was a veteran, and he received Veterans Aid & Attendance benefits, which were cash benefits to help pay for care,” says Amy Goyer, AARP care expert. “This can be extremely helpful.”

Use technology

Dementia is a progressive disease, meaning your beloved will need more care over time. At the start you’ll be able to Save money on care costs with technology. This can include things like motion sensors, automatic lights, water shutoff devices, medication dispensers and a system that notifies care partners when their loved one leaves the world.

“In earlier stages of dementia, you may just be nervous, and you need to put your eyes on them and actually see them and know what's going on,” says Goyer. “Using technology, you can extend the amount of time you don’t need to have someone there in person all the time.”

Slowly climb the nursing ladder

According to the JAMDA study, out-of-pocket costs are lower for individuals with dementia once they live at home. Home care may initially require using a meal delivery service and hiring someone to care for the home and garden. Then you might must hire home look after a number of hours a day or find an adult daycare center near you.

The average every day cost of adult day care is $95, in keeping with 2023 care cost data from Genworth, an insurance company. That's lower than half the price of home health care, which costs a median of $207 per day.

“A lot of people still don’t know that adult day care exists,” Goyer said. “This can be a real cost saving. And people can be quite far from dementia in an adult daycare center, depending on the focus and capacity.”

If you reach the purpose where your beloved needs around-the-clock care, a live-in caregiver could also be a more economical option than an assisted living facility or hourly care from an out of doors source because room and board are a part of the salary turn off. If there’s an additional bedroom in the home, that is a good choice for a loved one who doesn’t need expert care but can’t be left alone.

“We did that with caregivers for a while,” Goyer says, “and it saved a little bit of money.”