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Center on Aging
Studies
The following newsletter is provided by Dr. Share DeCroix Bane, a member of the gerontology faculty at the Center on Aging, and the Missouri University Extension's State Specialist on Aging. It is from the May issue of Aging UpDate.
Alzheimer’s Association Launches Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters Education Campaign The Alzheimer’s Association has kicked off its Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters campaign, a multi-faceted national education effort to increase awareness of the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s and the benefits of early detection and early diagnosis. Early detection, diagnosis and intervention are vital because they provide individuals the best opportunities for treatment, support and planning for the future. 10 Warning signs of Alzheimer’s: 1) Memory changes that disrupt daily life. 2) Challenges in planning or solving problems 3) Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure. 4) Confusion with time or place. 5) Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. 6) New problems with words in speaking or writing. 7) Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. 8) Decreased or poor judgment. 9) Withdrawal from work or social activities. 10) Changes in mood and personality. Click here for the full article By Matt Davis, M.D. Lisa Carbo knew something was wrong. The former registered nurse from Metairie, La., began experiencing difficulty in remembering how to perform various functions at her job. Multitasking became harder. Eventually she was written up for poor performance, prompting her to seek medical help. Carbo was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in November 2007, at the age of 53. Her diagnosis changed everything: She lost her job and her boyfriend left her. “All those hopes and dreams are smashed. They’re all gone. It’s like everything that you planned on for your life is gone.” Fortunately for Carbo, she was able to find help to deal with the depression brought about by her diagnosis. She began taking antidepressants and started seeing a therapist. Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging, said that many patients in the early stages of disease, like Carbo, become anxious or depressed. And because it generally strikes people who are in their prime, early onset Alzheimer’s is often a source of distress, said Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, division head of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University of Durham, N.C. Unlike the traditional form of Alzheimer’s, which occurs in the elderly, the early onset type first produces symptoms prior to age 65. Estimates indicate that only 1 to 10 percent of Alzheimer’s patients have the early onset form, and because it is relatively rare, there is often a delay in making the diagnosis, said Erin Heintz, a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association. Click here for the full article Low Blood Sugar a Dementia Risk for Diabetics By Julie Steenhuysen Older diabetics whose blood sugar drops to dangerously low levels have a higher risk of developing dementia, according to U.S. researchers. The study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, suggests that aggressive blood sugar control resulting in blood sugar so low it requires a trip to the hospital may increase dementia risks in older adults with type 2 diabetes. Several studies have found that diabetics have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease—the most common form of dementia—than do the general population. And others have shown that diabetics who take insulin and pills to help control their disease have a lower Alzheimer’s risk. She said a number of things such as a missed meal can cause severe low blood sugar in diabetics, but the chief cause is too much insulin, which can happen in people who take insulin injections or with oral diabetes drugs such as sulfanylureas or glimepiride that cause the body to make more insulin. The team checked to see if prior episodes of low blood sugar that were severe enough to require a trip to the hospital were associated with a higher risk of dementia. “In older patients with a history of one episode, they had a 26 percent greater risk of dementia. Patients with two episodes had a 115 percent greater risk of dementia. And patients with three or more episodes had a 160 percent greater risk of dementia,” Whitmer said. She said the study offers more evidence that aggressive measures to control blood sugar can cause harm in elderly diabetics. |