A poll shows how many members of the ‘sandwich generation’ of people in their 50s, 60s and beyond act as a crucial source of health-related caregiving and household help for older Americans.

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and the mild cognitive impairment that can precede these conditions, now affect one-third of Americans over age 65.

Causes of death were reclassified by the CDC to include contributing factors such as dementia. These changes resulted in dementia jumping up from the 8th cause of death in 2000 to the 6th cause of death in 2018 (and the 5th cause of death among older adults). In this episode we’ll talk with Dr. Bryan James from Rush University about dementia as a cause of death (versus contributing factor).

High blood pressure means faster slide into signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s, but does not explain the overall disparity between Hispanic/Latino people and non-Hispanic people in dementia risk.

Amyloid’s role in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia doesn’t tell the whole story; other molecules and prevention via cardiovascular, social and cognitive.

A new study compares two popular forms of cognitive training that people often use to improve learning and memory.

The VA’s efforts to reduce use of risky antipsychotic medications in its nursing homes succeeded – but use of other medications with less evidence behind them rose.

Medicare costs around the time of a dementia diagnosis are much lower for older adults screened proactively rather than those diagnosed while experiencing a health issue

More awareness and more detailed health records may explain rise; end-of-life care shifting as diagnoses allow for more advance planning.

If you’re new to dementia research, you’ll soon come to find that most research papers on dementia start off something like this: “In the United States there are 5.8 million individuals living with dementia and this is expected to increase to 13 million by 2015. . . .” In this episode we discuss the study on dementia prevalence that has been cited thousands of times with one of the authors. Dr. Jennifer Weuve from Boston University joins us today. We also talk more broadly about what makes a research paper highly citable in general.

In our last episode we talked about caregivers for individuals living with dementia. In this second part of our series on caregivers we’ll get to know someone with lived experience. We’re joined in this episode by Peggy Arden whose husband has Alzheimer’s disease. Peggy has graciously agreed to offer us a behind the scenes look at the ups and downs of being a dementia caregiver.

One of the richest data sources available to study cognition and aging is the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This nationally representative survey includes questions to help assess cognition, but many researchers may use this data without actually knowing the questions behind the variables—don’t be That Guy! (or Gal!) Listen to Dr. Lindsay Ryan, an HRS team member, coach Matt as he administers the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) to Donovan, who is surprisingly good at recalling types of birds.

While there are some FDA-approved medications for dementia, more individuals living with dementia are actually prescribed psychotropic medications. In this episode, Donovan introduces Matt to the concept of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, which are just as much part of dementia as the memory loss—and are probably a big reason for all this other prescribing.

In this episode we continue our discussion of the implications of the approval of Aducanumab. Our guest this week is Professor Nicholas Bagley. Prof. Bagley is a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School and a contributing writer to the Atlantic. Recently he wrote an article titled “The Drug that Could Break American Health Care” that discusses some of the broader (unintended) consequences of the approval of Aducanumab. In this episode we discuss some of the broader cost implications of the new drug.

Aducanumab is a new drug designed to remove amyloid in the brain. Following an accelerated process, the Food and Drug Administration approved Aducanumab as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease despite (what many experts feel) little evidence of effectiveness. In this episode we discuss the approval of Aducanumab with Dr. Jason Karlawish from the University of Pennsylvania and talk about what it could mean for drug discovery going forward.