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The clock is running for people who’ve been diagnosed with dementia, but the time they have left depends on their age. Average life expectancy for people with dementia is largely based on their age at diagnosis, researchers found in a new evidence review. Dementia reduces life expectancy by about 2 years for those diagnosed at age 85, 3 to 4 years for those diagnosed at 80, and up to 13 years with a diagnosis at 65, researchers reported in a study published Jan. 8 in The BMJ. “About one third of remaining life expectancy was lived in nursing homes, with more than half of people moving to a nursing home within five years after a dementia diagnosis,” concluded the team led by senior researcher Dr. Frank Wolters, a senior scientist in epidemiology with the Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. One of the challenges of dementia involves planning for a person’s care following diagnosis, and these plans can hinge on how long a person will live with the degenerative brain condition, researchers said in background notes. Nearly 10 million people worldwide are diagnosed with dementia every year, researchers said. However, current life expectancy estimates vary widely, and haven’t been updated for more than a decade. For this evidence review, researchers analyzed data from 261 prior studies involving more than 5.5 million people with… read on > read on >

The words “calm down” are worse than unhelpful — they actually can increase blood pressure among new mothers of color, a study has found. Gender-based racism through such microaggressions significantly increased a new mom’s blood pressure, compared to women not subjected to these sort of comments, researchers reported in a study published Jan. 9 in the journal Hypertension. And effects on blood pressure were even more pronounced among women living in areas with high levels of structural racism. “It is well-known that Black, Hispanic and South Asian women experience microaggressions during health care. It is not as well known whether these microaggressions may have an association with higher blood pressure,” lead researcher Teresa Janevic, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, said in a news release from the college. For the study, researchers asked nearly 400 women of color who gave birth at four hospitals in Philadelphia and New York City about the microaggressions they faced during their care. The women ranted in age from 16 to 46, with about 43% between 20 and 29. Examples included “I have been disrespected,” “Someone told me to calm down,” and “Someone accused me of being angry when speaking assertively.” Nearly two in five women (38%) reported at least one instance of microaggression during their pregnancy care, results show.… read on > read on >

Delivering meals to the infirm. Tutoring a student. Patrolling a city park. Helping out at a local library. All these activities not only serve the community, but also can help seniors avoid depression related to social isolation. Volunteering reduces the risk of depression by 43% among seniors, researchers reported in a study published Jan. 8 in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society. “Those engaged in volunteering activities had a significantly lower prevalence of depression,” senior researcher Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, said in a news release from the college. Volunteerism could be particularly important for seniors who’ve just retired, as they are at higher risk for depression, researchers added. For the study, researchers analyzed data gathered for nearly 3,000 seniors 65 to 79 as part of a study on aging drivers. Overall, about 6% of all the study participants had depression, researchers found But depression was double among those who didn’t volunteer compared to those who did, 8% versus 4%, results show. The study also showed that money is a root of happiness for seniors. Risk of depression was 47% lower for households with annual income of $50,000 to $79,999, and 59% lower for those making $80,000 or more, researchers found. Depression also was more common in people 65 to 69 compared with older seniors. For example, people 70 to… read on > read on >

When it comes to living a longer life, staying active may matter far more than what the scale says. Per the largest study yet on fitness, body weight, and longevity published recently in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers found that people who are aerobically fit (i.e., how well your heart, lungs, and muscles work together to supply oxygen during exercise) significantly reduce their risk of premature death, even if they are obese. In fact, being fit cut the risk of premature death by half for people with obesity, compared to those of normal weight who were unfit. “This tells us that it’s much more important, all things considered, to focus on the fitness aspect” of health and longevity, “rather than the fatness aspect,” Siddhartha Angadi, senior author of the study and an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia, told The Washington Post. The review pooled data from 20 prior studies involving nearly 400,000 midlife and older adults from multiple countries, about 30% of whom were women. Participants were grouped based on their aerobic fitness, which was objectively measured through cardiovascular stress tests, and their body mass index (BMI). They also pulled data about who’d died during follow-up periods of up to about two decades. The findings were clear: People who were fit and overweight or obese had similar risks of death as… read on > read on >

Movement is medicine, or so they tell people with knee osteoarthritis — but are they right? A recent evidence review calls into question just how helpful exercise can be for easing the pain of knee arthritis. “Exercise probably results in an improvement in pain, physical function, and quality of life in the short‐term,” concluded the research team led by Belinda Lawford, a research fellow in physiotherapy with the University of Melbourne in Australia. “However, based on the thresholds for minimal important differences that we used, these benefits were of uncertain clinical importance,” the team added in its report published previously in the Cochrane Library. The review casts a slight shadow on what has been considered an integral part of therapy for knee pain. “Movement is an essential part of an osteoarthritis treatment plan,” the Arthritis Foundation says on its website, recommending that people take part in strength training, stretching, aerobics, and balance exercises. For the new review, the team evaluated data from 139 prior clinical trials involving nearly 12,500 participants that occurred up through early Jan. 2024. On a 100-point scale, exercise for knee arthritis improved: Pain by 8.7 to 13.1 points Physical function by 9.7 to 12.5 points Quality of life by 4.2 to 6.1 points But while those were significant improvements, they did not always meet established scores for making a minimal important… read on > read on >

Exercising now can increase your chances of successfully fighting cancer in the future. Even low levels of exercise provided protection against cancer, a new study published Jan. 7 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows. People were 47% less likely to die from cancer if they’d been engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity prior to their diagnosis, compared to people not exercising at all, researchers found. Likewise, those engaging in light exercise had a 33% lower risk of dying from cancer, compared with none at all, the study says. “Physical activity may be considered to confer substantial benefits in terms of progression and overall mortality to those diagnosed with cancer,” concluded the team led by senior researcher Dr. Jon Patricios, an associate professor with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. “In a world where cancer continues to be a significant public health burden, the promotion of physical activity can yield important benefits regarding the progression of cancer as well as its prevention and management,” the researchers added. For the study, researchers tracked the health of more than 28,000 people diagnosed with early-stage cancers in South Africa between 2007 and 2022. Breast and prostate cancers were the most common, representing 44% of cases. Researchers compared the patients’ levels of physical activity in the 12 months prior to their cancer diagnosis with… read on > read on >

Some of the most effective public policies for suicide prevention aren’t crafted with suicide or mental health in mind, a new study says. Efforts to increase the minimum wage, prohibit gender discrimination, or reduce alcohol consumption “have spillover benefits in that they also prevent suicides,” lead researcher Jonathan Purtle, an associate professor of public health policy and management at the NYU School of Global Public Health, said in a news release from the school. In fact, those policies might be more effective at preventing suicides than efforts to increase access to health care or limit firearms, researchers argue in a study published Jan. 7 in the Annual Review of Public Health. “This research highlights the importance of considering social determinants in suicide prevention,” researcher Michael Lindsey, dean of the NYU Silver School of Social Work, said in a news release. “An individual’s mental well-being is influenced not only by clinical factors, but also by their environment, circumstances, and experiences,” Lindsey added. Suicide rates have been on the rise over the past two decades, increasing by 37% since 2000, researchers said in background notes. For younger people 10 to 24, suicide increased 62% between 2010 and 2020. To see which public policies might best help prevent suicides, researchers first analyzed state bills passed during the last two decades that explicitly mentioned suicide. They found a dramatic… read on > read on >

The Mediterranean diet is renown for its ability to improve heart health and help folks lose weight. Now a new rat study says this eating pattern also might provide folks a boost in brain power. Lab rats fed a Mediterranean diet developed changes in gut bacteria that researchers linked to better memory and improved cognitive performance, according to results published recently in the journal Gut Microbes Reports. “Our findings suggest that dietary choices can influence cognitive performance by reshaping the gut microbiome,” lead researcher Rebecca Solch-Ottaiano, a neurology research instructor at Tulane University’s Clinical Neuroscience Research Center, said in a news release from the college. For the study, researchers fed rats a diet rich in olive oil, fish and fiber over 14 weeks. The young rats were approximately equivalent in age to 18-year-old humans. The rats showed increases in four beneficial types of gut bacteria, compared to another group of rats eating a Western-style diet high in saturated fats. These changes in gut bacteria were linked to improved performance on maze challenges designed to test the rats’ memory and learning abilities, researchers said. The Mediterranean diet group also showed better cognitive flexibility, or the ability to adapt to new information, results show. They also had better short-term “working” memory. These results suggest that teenagers and young adults whose brains and bodies are still maturing could… read on > read on >

Three GLP-1 drugs are best at helping obese and overweight people drop weight, including one that hasn’t yet been approved for that purpose. A new evidence review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that the widely-known drugs tirzepatide (Zepbound) and semaglutide (Wegovy) are both safe and effective at helping the obese shed pounds. However, a third drug also FDA-approved for weight loss, liraglutide (Saxenda), didn’t work as well as the others, researchers found after reviewing data from dozens of clinical trials. The review also found that a GLP-1 drug still in development, called retatrutide, might be more effective than either Zepbound or Wegovy. “We found that, of the 12 GLP-1 (drugs) identified by our search, the greatest mean body weight reduction was reported in randomized controlled trials of retatrutide, tirzepatide, and semaglutide,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Mark Eisenberg, a professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. GLP-1 drugs, initially developed to treat diabetes, help people lose weight by slowing digestion in the stomach and sending signals to the brain indicating that a person has eaten enough and feels full. The drugs mimic a hormone secreted by the small intestine when people eat food. For the new evidence review, researchers analyzed data from 26 previous clinical trials of the drugs, involving nearly 15,500 participants. Compared to placebo, the data… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) released the first-ever guidelines for levels of lead in processed baby foods this week. However, many health and safety advocates say they are not satisfied with the guidance. Under the FDA’s new guidelines, baby food manufacturers should have no more than 10 parts per billion of lead in baby yogurts, custards, puddings, single-ingredient meats, processed fruits and vegetables, and mixtures of fruits, vegetables, grains and meat. Yet the new guidance does not cover many other products, such as infant formula, beverages, or snack foods like puffs and teething biscuits. “Nearly all baby foods on the market already comply with these limits,” Jane Houlihan, research director of Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), told CNN. HBBF is a coalition of advocates committed to reducing babies’ exposures to neurotoxic chemicals. Houlihan said the newly released FDA guidelines were ineffective — not to mention unenforceable. In 2019, HBBF released a report that found toxic metals in 95% of baby foods randomly pulled off supermarket shelves. It led to a congressional investigation that discovered some baby food ingredients contain hundreds of parts per billion of dangerous metals, according to internal documents provided by major baby food manufacturers. “As it stands, the new lead limits for commercial baby foods would reduce children’s total dietary lead exposure by less than 4% — a negligible improvement,”… read on > read on >

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Can Doctors Estimate Life Expectancy After a Dementia Diagnosis?

Being Told to ‘Calm Down,’ Other Microaggressions May Raise Risk for Postpartum Hypertension

Avoiding Isolation By Volunteering Offers Mental Health Benefits to Seniors

Fitness Matters More Than Weight for Longevity, Study Says

Can Exercise Ease Knee Pain? Here’s What the Research Shows

Exercise Prior to Cancer Diagnosis May Help Slow Disease Progression

The Public Policies That Really Help Prevent Suicide

Can the Mediterranean Diet Boost Your Memory?

Some GLP-1s Achieve More Weight Loss Than Others: Study

Health Advocates Are Unhappy with FDA Guidance on Lead Levels in Baby Food