Spouse Has Dementia? You're at Risk, Too

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WebMD

Alzheimer's Disease Health Center

Study Shows Husbands and Wives Who Are Caregivers Have Higher Risk of Dementia
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MD (Vienna, Austria) -- A first-of-its-kind study suggests that spouses of people with dementia are at substantially increased risk of developing dementia themselves.

Researchers followed more than 1,200 couples for 10 years. They found that wives who cared for husbands with dementia were nearly four times more likely to develop dementia than wives of men who didn't have dementia.

Husband caregivers were almost 12 times more likely to develop dementia than husbands of women who were cognitively healthy, says researcher Maria Norton, PhD, associate professor of gerontology at Utah State University, Logan.

Dementia isn't contagious, of course. "But the amount of stress involved in caring for a spouse with dementia is tremendous," and stress is a known risk factor for dementia, says Ralph Nixon, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and Alzheimer's disease expert at New York University and vice chairman of the Medical & Scientific Advisory Council at the Alzheimer's Association.

People who are stressed out are also less likely to eat a healthy diet and exercise, both of which are critical to brain health, he tells WebMD. Nixon was not involved with the research.

The study was presented at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

Norton tells WebMD that "one might think the couples' shared environment could explain the findings. But we controlled for shared environment, education, and genetics, and ruled all those factors out."

Why are husband caregivers at so much greater risk of developing dementia than the wife caregivers?

Norton believes it's because older men tend to rely on their wives to keep up social ties with relatives and friends. "The social support system shrinks if the wife has dementia," she says.

Also, men often fail to go to the doctor without some nudging from their wives, Norton says. This places them at higher risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other conditions that may raise the risk of dementia.

No matter how sick your spouse is, take care of your own health too, she advises.

Norton offers this advice for adult children of people with dementia:

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Higher bone-lead levels associated with dementia

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Environmental Health News

van Wijngaarden, E, JR Campbell and DA Cory-Slechta. 2009. Bone lead levels are associated with measures of memory impairment in older adults.
Synopsis by Kim Harley, Ph.D.


Older adults with higher amounts of lead in their bones exhibit greater memory impairment than adults with low lead levels.


In a study of men and women 55 to 67 years old, higher lead levels were associated with poorer performance on tasks used to assess memory deficits. Poor performance on these same tasks is frequently observed among adults with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Although other studies have found associations between lead exposure and cognitive deficits in older adults, this is the first study to link lead exposure with specific measures of memory impairment that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia, the loss of memory serious enough to interfere with normal life. Alzheimer’s Disease affects more than 5 million Americans. The disease is characterized by impaired ability to learn new information or recall old information, as well as other alterations of thinking and behavior.

The causes of Alzheimer’s Disease are unknown. However, some studies suggest that environmental exposures may increase the risk of the disease.

In this study, the researchers measured lead levels in the bones of the shin and heel of 47 volunteers using X-ray fluorescence. Lead levels in bone reflect exposure over several years or even decades.

Individuals with higher bone lead level were...read all of Higher bone-lead levels associated with dementia

New developments in memory support research

Citizen.com
By KATHERINE THORNDIKE, RN
Forestview Manor Assisted Living

There have been exciting developments in the scientific research to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

At the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease held this year in Chicago, researchers from 60 countries shared groundbreaking information and resources on the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's and related disorders.

New medications show a promise of halting or slowing the progression of dementia. It is hoped that the most encouraging of these medications, aptly called Rember, will be available in 2012.

It has been shown that people with better......read the whole article

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Practical recommendations on preventing aggression in dementia patients by screening for and treating predictive factors.

Modern Medicine

Geriatrics
Persons with dementia often present with non-cognitive clinical symptoms, such as aggression, which can be distressing and dangerous to both caregiver and patient. Depression, pain, caregiver burden, and the quality of the caregiver-patient relationship can contribute to the onset of aggression. Given the risks involved with medication, there is a strong need for preventive and nonpharmacological interventions before such behaviors occur. This article gives practical recommendations for primary care physicians on how to prevent aggression in dementia patients by screening for and treating predictive factors. Clinically useful assessment instruments and treatment options are discussed, in addition to referral sources.
Nguyen VT, Love AR, Kunik ME. Preventing aggression in persons with dementia. Geriatrics. 2008;63(10)21-26.
Key words: aggression, dementia, geriatric assessment, pain, depression, caregiver, psychotherapy
Drugs discussed: acetaminophen, citralopram, sertraline
Dementia is a major public health concern, especially with the growing aging population. The incidence of dementia increases with age, and it was estimated to affect 24.3 million individuals worldwide in 2005 and predicted to rise to 81.1 million by 2040.1
Dementia is a multidimensional...read the whole article

Dementia patients need to be engaged citizens

BY JESSE F. BALLENGER Jesse F. Ballenger is a historian of medicine who teaches in the Science, Technology and Society Program at Penn State University. He is the author of "Self, Senility and Alzheimer's Disease in Modern
July 20, 2008
Advocates of federal funding for Alzheimer's and related dementia research have argued since the late 1970s that unless effective treatment or prevention is found, the health care system will be overwhelmed by the coming explosion of victims from the Baby Boom generation. As a model, they frequently have invoked the eradication of polio."In 1935, a March of Dimes was started. In 1961, less than 30 years later, the last polio epidemic occurred," said Robert Butler, founding director of the National Institute on Aging and a leading advocate of Alzheimer's research, in 1983 congressional testimony. " ... Senility could fall the way polio did, if we invest now." In light of the monumental personal losses and social burdens of Alzheimer's, medical research came to seem a moral imperative. The country's hope was fixed on the inevitability of a medical triumph.But it has been 25 years and about $8 billion of federal money for research since Butler testified.
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New System Detects Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Risk Among Highly Educated Older Adults

ScienceDaily (July 16, 2008) — A different cutoff point on an existing mental function assessment may more effectively assess the risk of Alzheimer's and other dementias in highly educated older adults, according to a new article.

The authors suggest that use of this new cut point may help facilitate early detection of Alzheimer's and related dementias in highly educated individuals. Timely treatment may be particularly important in this population, since individuals with more education tend to decline and die more quickly after they are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the authors note.

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Exonhit says EHT 0202 could be 'major therapeutic breakthrough' in Alzheimer's and other dementias

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - ExonHit Therapeutics' EHT 0202 compound could be a 'major therapeutic breakthrough' in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the company said.
In a preview of a presentation to be given at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago from July 26 to 31, ExonHit said it is developing two proprietary programmes in Alzheimer's disease.
EHT 0202, currently in phase II of clinical trials, is based on a mechanism to redirect the processing of APP (Amyloid Precursor Protein), which is pivotal in the evolution of Alzheimer's disease, the company said.
The second programme, EHT 206, is in pre-clinical stage and focuses on the development of chemical entities aiming at inhibiting the formation of senile plaques, largely composed of aggregated beta amyloid peptides, the company said.
These plaques play a major role in the loss of cognitive functions in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, it said.

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