The use of statins and other lipid-lowering agents by older adults was not associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, according to a study in the July issue of the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Some women who use a combination of estrogen and progestin to control the symptoms of menopause might find symptoms return when they stop the hormones, according to the latest findings from the Women?s Health Initiative (WHI), a major clinical trial of the risks and benefits of menopausal hormone therapy supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Behavioral techniques that are known to improve sleep in non-demented institutionalized older adults may benefit patients with Alzheimer’s disease who have nighttime insomnia, according to the findings of a small study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The low affinity glutamate NMDA receptor antagonist memantine can slightly reduce deterioration in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease, but the effect in less severely affected people is unknown.
A revolutionary new approach to diagnose, treat, and delay the onset of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a public health advisory to alert health care providers, patients, and patient caregivers to new safety information concerning an unapproved (i.e., off-label) use of certain drugs called atypical antipsychotic drugs. These drugs are approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and mania, but clinical studies of these drugs to treat behavioral disorders in elderly patients with dementia have shown a higher death rate associated with their use compared to patients receiving a placebo (sugar pill).
In a study of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), those who took the drug donepezil were at reduced risk of progressing to a diagnosis of Alzheimer?s disease (AD) during the first year of the trial, but by the end of the 3-year study there was no benefit from the drug. Vitamin E was also tested in the study and was found to have no effect at any time point in the study when compared with placebo.
Aricept, a drug licensed for treating Alzheimer’s disease, may slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, and in other centers.
Men with a history of depression long before the onset of any memory or other cognitive problems have a substantially higher risk of developing dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD), later in life, a study indicates. This risk is not observed in women.
Regular exercise and a healthy diet could go a long way to reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a neurologist said.