Despite 6 million U.S. adults living with Alzheimer’s — with numbers expected to reach 13 million by 20501 — its cause remains elusive. The gut, including its unique makeup up microbial inhabitants, may play an important role, however. An analysis published in Scientific Reports2 even uncovered specific gut bacteria that may be linked to Alzheimer’s… Read More »
The FDA’s approval of the first therapy to treat Alzheimer’s Disease in over twenty years brought attention to a not-yet-convened debate of U.S. health care costs and spending, innovation, and return-on-the-investment (as well as “for whom” do the returns accrue). In my latest post for Medecision, I explore different angles on the Aduhelm and Alzheimer’s… Read More »
Henry Magendantz, 84, was unhooked from an I.V. after receiving an infusion of the experimental Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab.Credit…Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times Alzheimer’s Drug Poses a Dilemma for the F.D.A. If the agency approves it, aducanumab would be the first new Alzheimer’s treatment since 2003. Patients are desperate for new options, but some… Read More »
FRIDAY, Sept. 11, 2020 — Alzheimer’s disease is more common in rural Appalachian areas of Ohio than in other rural parts of the state, new research shows. For the study, the investigators analyzed 11 years of Medicare data, ending in 2017, and found that Alzheimer’s rates were 2% to 3% higher in rural Appalachian counties… Read More »
It is time to start anew. More than a century after neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer gave the first scientific talk describing the disease that bears his name today, we have no good treatments for this thief of minds, and we certainly have no cure. Today 40 million to 50 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s disease… Read More »
MONDAY, April 13, 2020 — Even before symptoms develop, the brains of people with early Alzheimer’s disease have high levels of amyloid protein plaques, a new study reveals. Those levels in older adults with no dementia symptoms are associated with a family history of disease, lower scores on thinking/memory tests, and declines in daily mental… Read More »
There remains a controversy in scientific circles today regarding the value of lithium therapy in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Much of this stems from the fact that because the information gathered to date has been obtained using a multitude of differential approaches, conditions, formulations, timing and dosages of treatment, results are difficult to compare. In addition,… Read More »