• 1 in 8 boomers reports memory loss, large survey finds

    By Steve James, contributor, NBC News

    One in eight Americans over the age of 60 reports worsening memory loss, raising concerns of an Alzheimer’s Disease crisis as the baby-boom generation gets older, a large government study finds. And it's bugging the youngest members of that age group the most.

    Nearly 13 percent people 60 or older reported confusion or memory loss occuring more often or getting worse over the past 12 months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

    Of these people, one-third reported that confusion or memory loss interfered with their work, social activities, or ability to do household chores, the CDC found in analyzing a survey of 59,000 people in 21 states.

    Because it’s the first self-reported survey of memory loss, it’s difficult to draw conclusions, said Angela Deokar, a public health adviser at the CDC.

    “This is the first time we have such data,” she said, adding that future surveys would look at why people in the 60-64 age group seemed to suffer more when they did have memory loss. The survey found that 12 percent of 60 to 64-year-olds complained of confusion or memory loss, and of them,  nearly 45 percent said it interfered with daily life or work. That's worse than in the 85-and-older group -- only 38 percent of them felt the memory loss or confusion interfered with their lives.

    “These findings suggest a need for future studies to examine the relationship of age and functional difficulties caused by increased confusion or memory loss,” Deokar said.

    But only 35 percent of those who reported memory loss said they had discussed their symptoms with a health care provider. It's not clear whether the symptoms are just very mild, or that baby boomers are in denial.

    “Some say ‘Oh, it’s just a normal part of aging.’ It’s not,” said Matthew Baumgart, senior director of public policy for the Alzheimer’s Association, which is analyzing the CDC results.

    “When one in eight Americans 60-plus says they are having memory problems, then we continue to have a problem and things are not going to get better for the foreseeable future,” he said.

    Even though 12.7 percent reported worsening memory loss in the previous year, that did not necessarily mean they were developing Alzheimer’s, Baumgart said, although forgetfulness is a key sign of the disease. Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, is also the fastest growing threat because of the aging population.

    “There is definitely a stigma surrounding this disease and 80 percent not talking to their doctor is an indication of that,” he said.

    The study, which was conducted in 2011, only included the first five years of the Baby Boom generation to turn 60. “We’ve got another 15 years to come,” Baumgart said.

    That will put more pressure on the system, since Alzheimer’s and dementia are probably the costliest illnesses because many patients eventually need nursing home care, he said. Most patients live four to eight year after diagnosis, but many can live for 20 more years, Baumgart said, adding that about one-third of Alzheimer’s patients live alone and are unaware of their symptoms.

    “No treatments will slow the advance of the disease, but a diagnosis can allow a patient to plan for future care,” he said, stressing the importance of early detection.

    Lynda Anderson, who is director of the CDC’s Healthy Aging Program, said respondents were clearly told the study was about memory loss deteriorating in the previous 12 months. “We prefaced the questions by telling them it was not about losing your keys or forgetting a face, like we all do sometimes," she said.

    A new study is underway involving drugs that may prevent Alzheimer's. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.

     

    376 comments

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , , ,

  • Diabetes drug may someday repair Alzheimer's damage

    By Susan E. Matthews
    MyHealthNewsDaily

    The diabetes drug metformin may spur the growth of new brain cells, which could have benefits for Alzheimer's patients, a new Canadian study on mice suggests.

    The study showed that metformin caused brain cells to divide, producing new cells.

    The diabetes medication was intended to target a specific pathway in liver cells. In the new study, researchers found that the drug activated that same pathway in brain cells, prompting new cell growth, said study researcher Freda Miller, a stem cell biologist and molecular geneticist at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto.

    The new cells that are produced could help to repair the effects of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Miller told MyHealthNewsDaily. The concept that new cell growth could repair the brain is also driving research into neural stem cells, she added.

    The research on metformin's effects on the brain is still in early stages, and the findings have yet to be shown in people.

    Still, the researchers found that new brain cells grew in both living mice and in human brain cell cultures growing in lab dishes. They are now working to set up clinical trials, Miller said.

    The researchers decided to test metformin's effects on brain cells after it was found that the pathway targeted by the drug in liver cells was also operating in brain cells.

    A 2008 study found that patients with both diabetes and Alzheimer’s who began taking metformin experienced improvements in their Alzheimer's symptoms after starting on the drug. It was thought that treating the patients' diabetes had effects on the body that helped improve their Alzheimer’s, but the new study suggests the change in brain function was due to the drug itself, the researchers said.

    Metformin is currently approved to treat Type 2 diabetes, along with diet and exercise. Studies have suggested the drug has other effects on the body, such as reducing the risk of certain cancers, such as breast cancer or prostate cancer, and regulating metabolism. Experiments with the drug in mice have suggested that it could delay the onset of Huntington's disease, another brain disorder.

    In people with diabetes, the drug has been shown to be very safe, with few side effects.

    The study, published today (July 5) in the journal Cell Stem Cell, was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Stem Cell Network and from the Three To Be Foundation, a charity that supports research on neurological disorders.

    More from MyHealthNewsDaily:
    7 Ways to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

    6 Foods That Are Good for Your Brain

    10 Celebrities with Chronic Illnesses

  • New Alzheimer's criteria would change diagnosis for millions

    By Rachael Rettner
    MyHealthNewsDaily

    Almost everyone currently diagnosed with a mild form of Alzheimer's disease would be downgraded to not having the condition, if new proposed criteria for the diagnosis of cognitive problems were applied, a new study shows.

    Instead, people diagnosed as having "very mild" and " mild" Alzheimer's disease would be reclassified as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is currently recognized as an intermittent stage between the normal loss of mental function that comes with age and the development of dementia.

    The new criteria broaden the definition of mild cognitive impairment, and this will cause confusion when doctors try to diagnose MCI and Alzheimer's, said study researcher Dr. John Morris, a professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

    Moreover, the new criteria highlight the fallacy of thinking about MCI and Alzheimer's as different entities, Morris said.

    "[The] idea that there is an MCI stage, distinct from very early Alzheimer's disease, is artificial," Morris said. "It really is the same disease process."

    Instead of widening the criteria so more people are diagnosed with MCI, researchers should do the opposite — try to figure how to winnow down the group of patients with MCI to find those who will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease, Morris said. In fact, if a patient's memory and thinking troubles are due to early Alzheimer's, and not due to depression or medication use, "We can just call it very early Alzheimer's disease. There's no need to have this distinction," Morris said.

    The report is published online today in the Archives of Neurology.

    Previously, mild cognitive impairment was defined as a decline in cognitive function — which could include memory and language problems — that do not interfere with everyday activities.

    But the new criteria, proposed by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, state that people with MCI have "independence in functional activities."

    This could mean that, as long as a person can do everyday activities by themselves, they would be classified as having MCI, even if they had mild problems with activities such as shopping, paying bills and cooking, Morris said. (In fact, having mild problems with such activities is a criterion for dementia, Morris said.)

    To assess what the impact of the new criteria would be on patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Morris analyzed information from 17,535 people who had been classified as having normal cognition, MCI or Alzheimer's disease. Participants were classified based on how well they could function performing a variety of activities, including preparing meals and taking mediation.

    The results showed 99.8 percent of patients currently diagnosed with very mild Alzheimer's disease, and 92.7 percent of those diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's disease, would be reclassified as having MCI based on the revised criteria.

    Considering about 2.5 million people have very mild Alzheimer's disease, the findings suggest that, very roughly, about 2.2 million people could be reclassified as having MCI (although this calculation is speculative), Morris said.

    William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the Alzheimer's Association, said the proposed criteria for MCI are less than a year old, and experts will likely continue to discuss and tweak them in the years to come.

    "We are really now working on trying to identify exactly where people will fit in the continuum of Alzheimer's disease," Thies said.

    Thies agreed the disease is a continuous process, and said you could likely not tell the difference between someone with the most severe case of MCI and someone with the mildest case of Alzheimer's disease.

    But Thies said he does not think the new criteria will create much confusion. They are intended to be used by experts in the field, some of whom have already been thinking of MCI in the manner described by the new criteria. And others who are very conservative when it comes to diagnosing people with Alzheimer's disease likely won't change their ways, he said.

    Thies also said the field should move toward identifying which patients with MCI are actually in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. This could be done once there are well defined biomarkers for the condition, Thies said.

    While the field is moving toward this goal, it will likely be a while before biomarkers are routinely used by doctors to diagnose patients, he said.

    More from MyHealthNewsDaily

    More from Vitals: