Exploring English policymakers' attitudes towards dementia risk reduction: A qualitative study.

AIM: A growing evidence-base indicates that dementia occurrence can be changed. This has been linked to potentially modifiable risk factors. Risk reduction and primary prevention strategies are increasingly recognized as needing to include population-level policies to tackle the social and commercial determinants of health. How this knowledge can influence policymaking on dementia prevention is unknown. Understanding attitudes of policymakers is an important step in translating evidence into practice, helping to gauge system readiness for implementation, and potential barriers and enablers for influencing policy. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the understanding of, and attitudes to, dementia risk reduction and population-level prevention strategies amongst English policymakers at national, regional, and local level. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a range of dementia and prevention policymakers, with purposive sampling of national and local policymakers, including politicians, government officials, health system leaders, academics, and dementia charity directors. Analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken by thematic analysis. RESULTS: 14 policymakers were interviewed between November 2021 and February 2022. Three main themes were identified (1) Preventability of dementia, (2) Prevention approach, (3) Barriers and facilitators to improving the approach. DISCUSSION: Policymakers generally held dementia to be partially preventable. Policymakers recognised that both individual- and population-level approaches to primary prevention of dementia are required - with some policymakers perceiving that population-level approaches are under-utilised. Key barriers to implementing more population-level approaches were identified as the complexity and co-ordination required to effectively tackle upstream determinants of health.

Understanding the Association Between Sensory Impairment and Dementia: Toward Informing Future Research and Health Policy.

Recent epidemiological research has linked decline in multiple sensory functions with an increased risk of dementia. However, the pathways linking such factors with neurodegenerative disorders remain unclear. Studies that assess this are crucial for guiding the distribution of public health resources and the development of clinical trials aiming to delay or prevent dementia. This commentary examines the contribution of a study by Dintica and colleagues to the field of sensory-cognitive research.

Federal Nursing Home Policies on Antipsychotics had Similar Impacts by Race and Ethnicity for Residents With Dementia.

OBJECTIVES: Federal initiatives have been successful in reducing antipsychotic exposure in nursing home residents with dementia. We assessed if these initiatives were implemented equally across racial and ethnic minority groups. DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional trends study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: National long-stay nursing home residents with dementia from 2011 to 2017. METHODS: We examined trends in psychotropic drug class exposures from the Minimum Data Set assessments for non-Hispanic Black (NHB), Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White (NHW) residents using interrupted time-series analyses with age-sex standardized quarterly outcomes and time points to denote the National Partnership (2012) and Five Star Rating changes (2015). RESULTS: Initially, antipsychotic (33.0%) and sedative (6.8%) exposure was highest for Hispanic residents; antidepressant (59.8%) and anxiolytic (23.4%) exposure was highest for NHW residents; NHB residents had the lowest use of each. Antipsychotic use dropped at the time of the Partnership (ß = -0.8807, P = .0023) and the slope declined further after the Partnership (ß = -0.6611, P < .0001) for NHW. In comparison to NHW, the level and slope changes for NHB and Hispanics were not significantly different. The Five Star Rating change did not impact the level of antipsychotic use (ß = 0.027, P = .9467), but the slope changed to indicate a slowed rate of decline (ß = 0.1317, P = .4075) for NHW. As to the other psychotropic drug classes, there were few significant differences between trends seen in the racial and ethnic subgroups. The following exceptions were noted: antidepressant use decreased at a faster rate for NHB residents post-Partnership (ß = -0.1485, P = .0371), and after the Five Star Rating change, NHB residents (ß = -0.0428, P = .0312) and Hispanic residents (ß = -0.0834, P < .0001) saw antidepressant use decrease faster than NHW. Sedative use in slope post-Partnership period (ß = -0.086, P = .0275) and post-Five Star Rating (ß = -0.0775, P < .0001) declined faster among Hispanic residents. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: We found little evidence of clinically meaningful differences in changes to 4 classes of psychotropic medication use among racial and ethnic minority nursing home residents with dementia following 2 major federal initiatives.

Vacinas contra Alzheimer

Vaccines or candidate vaccines used to prevent or treat ALZHEIMER DISEASE.

Vacunas o vacunas experimentales que se utilizan para prevenir o tratar la ENFERMEDAD DE ALZHEIMER.

Vacinas ou candidatos a vacinas utilizados para prevenir ou tratar DOENÇA DE ALZHEIMER.

Sudden unexpected death in Parkinson's disease: Insights from clinical practice.

Classified as the second most common neurodegenerative disorder associated with aging after Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder. In the last decade, despite advances in treatment, mortality rates linked with PD continued to reach significant figures. Available studies have shown that compared with healthy controls, patients with PD are accompanied by high rates of premature death. This is usually caused by factors such as pneumonia and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a significant proportion of patients with PD die suddenly. This is referred to as a sudden and unexpected death in PD (SUDPAR). Here, we focus on the magnitude of SUDPAR. Finally, it is important to learn more about SUDPAR for the implementation of effective prevention strategies.

Changes in mortality trends amongst common diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: It has been found that COVID-19 increases deaths within common diseases in countries that have implemented strict lockdowns. In order to elucidate the proper national response to a pandemic, the mortality rates within COVID-19 and various diseases need to be studied in countries whose pandemic response differ. Sweden represents a country with lax pandemic restrictions, and we aimed to study the effects of COVID-19 on historical mortality rates within common diseases during 2020. METHODS: Regression models and moving averages were used to predict expected premature mortality per the ICD-10 during 2020 using historical data sets. Predicted values were then compared to recorded premature mortality to identify changes in mortality trends. RESULTS: Seasonal increased mortality was found within neurological diseases. Infectious diseases, tumours and cardiac disease mortality rates decreased compared to expected outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in mortality trends were observed for several common diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neurological and cardiac conditions, infections and tumours are examples of diseases that were heavily affected by the pandemic. The indirect effects of COVID-19 on certain patient populations should be considered when determining pandemic impact.

Sudden unexpected death in Parkinson's disease: Insights from clinical practice

Abstract Classified as the second most common neurodegenerative disorder associated with aging after Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder. In the last decade, despite advances in treatment, mortality rates linked with PD continued to reach significant figures. Available studies have shown that compared with healthy controls, patients with PD are accompanied by high rates of premature death. This is usually caused by factors such as pneumonia and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a significant proportion of patients with PD die suddenly. This is referred to as a sudden and unexpected death in PD (SUDPAR). Here, we focus on the magnitude of SUDPAR. Finally, it is important to learn more about SUDPAR for the implementation of effective prevention strategies.

Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's Disease: Current Scenario and Future Perspectives.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a global health concern owing to its complexity, which often poses a great challenge to the development of therapeutic approaches. No single theory has yet accounted for the various risk factors leading to the pathological and clinical manifestations of dementia-type AD. Therefore, treatment options targeting various molecules involved in the pathogenesis of the disease have been unsuccessful. However, the exploration of various immunotherapeutic avenues revitalizes hope after decades of disappointment. The hallmark of a good immunotherapeutic candidate is not only to remove amyloid plaques but also to slow cognitive decline. In line with this, both active and passive immunotherapy have shown success and limitations. Recent approval of aducanumab for the treatment of AD demonstrates how close passive immunotherapy is to being successful. However, several major bottlenecks still need to be resolved. This review outlines recent successes and challenges in the pursuit of an AD vaccine.

Enthusiasm, Questions about ARPA-H.

The Biden administration recently proposed creating the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a biomedical research agency under the NIH to accelerate research for widespread diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer disease, and cancer. Although many researchers express enthusiasm for the idea, questions remain about how the entity would function and mesh with existing institutes and agencies.

The Experts' Advice: Prevention and Responsibility in German Media and Scientific Discourses on Dementia.

In the absence of effective pharmacological therapy options, the focus of dementia and Alzheimer's research has shifted from treatment and care to risk prediction, early detection, and prevention. Public health communication and media coverage regarding dementia emphasize the individual responsibility for dementia risk management. Focusing on the social and moral implications of the new understanding and public representation of dementia, we present an analysis of medical science, nursing science, and media discourses in Germany between 2014 and 2019. We show which notions of dementia and prevention characterize the medical and nursing science debates regarding dementia and how scientific knowledge is transferred into media discourses on dementia. We further discuss how dementia risk communication interacts with contemporary social and health policies and in what ways current dementia discourses are associated with a (self-)responsibilization of cognitive aging.

[Died from or with dementia? The relationship between dementia and cause of death]. / Verstorben an oder mit Demenz? Die Beziehung zwischen demenzieller Erkrankung und Todesursache.

Specifying a singular specific cause of death or an appropriate causal chain in the death certificate can be challenging, especially in cases of elderly, multimorbid deceased persons.The German cause of death statistics suggest that mental illnesses, including dementia, are beneath the most frequent causes of death. But when looking at death certificates in the context of dementia considerable information gaps and a lack of plausibility in the causal chain can be observed quite regularly.In this article we give recommendations for the correct designation of the cause of death and underlying diseases in the death certificate. These recommendations are not only to be seen against an academic background. The correct registration of dementia in the causes of death statistics may be a basis for decision making in health politics and is hence in the interest of optimal patient care.

The rise and fall of global health issues: an arenas model applied to the COVID-19 pandemic shock.

BACKGROUND: The global health agenda is ill-defined as an analytical construct, complicating attempts by scholars and proponents to make claims about the agenda status of issues. We draw on Kingdon's definition of the agenda and Hilgartner and Bosk's public arenas model to conceptualize the global health agenda as those subjects or problems to which collectivities of actors operating nationally and globally are paying serious attention at any given time. We propose an arenas model for global health agenda setting and illustrate its potential utility by assessing priority indicators in five arenas, including international aid, pharmaceutical industry, scientific research, news media and civil society. We then apply the model to illustrate how the status of established (HIV/AIDS), emergent (diabetes) and rising (Alzheimer's disease) issues might be measured, compared and change in light of a pandemic shock (COVID-19). RESULTS: Coronavirus priority indicators rose precipitously in all five arenas in 2020, reflecting the kind of punctuation often caused by focusing events. The magnitude of change varied somewhat by arena, with the most pronounced shift in the global news media arena. Priority indicators for the other issues showed decreases of up to 21% and increases of up to 41% between 2019 and 2020, with increases suggesting that the agenda for global health issues expanded in some arenas in 2020- COVID-19 did not consistently displace priority for HIV/AIDS, diabetes or Alzheimer's disease, though it might have for other issues. CONCLUSIONS: We advance an arenas model as a novel means of addressing conceptual and measurement challenges that often undermine the validity of claims concerning the global health agenda status of problems and contributing causal factors. Our presentation of the model and illustrative analysis lays the groundwork for more systematic investigation of trends in global health agenda setting. Further specification of the model is needed to ensure accurate representation of vital national and transnational arenas and their interactions, applicability to a range of disease-specific, health systems, governance and policy issues, and sensitivity to subtler influences on global health agenda setting than pandemic shocks.

Purpose in Life and Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Replicable Evidence from Two National Samples.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome is characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait speed in the absence of dementia. Consistent evidence indicates that it predicts dementia and premature mortality. Less is known about its antecedents, particularly the role of psychological function. Purpose in life is an aspect of well-being that reflects a goal-oriented and -driven life that has been implicated in cognitive aging. We aimed to examine the cross-sectional association between purpose in life and MCR and to test the hypothesis that purpose is associated with a lower risk of new cases of MCR over an up to 12-year follow-up. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal multi-cohort design. SETTING: Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 6,785 individuals from the HRS and 5,665 from the NHATS. MEASUREMENTS: Participants reported on their purpose in life and cognitive complaints and completed a walking speed assessment. Cognitive complaints and walking speed were assessed again up to 12 years later in HRS and up to 7 years later in NHATS. RESULTS: Higher purpose in life was associated with a 33% lower risk of MCR concurrently (meta-analytic odds ratio = .75; 95% confidence interval [CI] = .62-.90; P = .002) and an about 26% lower risk of incident MCR longitudinally (meta-analytic hazard ratio = .77; 95% CI = .70-.84; P < .001). These associations were significant in each sample, were independent of sociodemographic covariates, and persisted after controlling for personality and health-related factors (depressive symptoms, physical activity, disease burden). CONCLUSION: Purpose in life is associated with a lower risk of incident MCR, an association that was replicated in two independent samples. Purpose is a malleable aspect of psychological function that is a promising target of intervention for healthier cognitive aging.

Ethical care during COVID-19 for care home residents with dementia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on care homes in the United Kingdom, particularly for those residents living with dementia. The impetus for this article comes from a recent review conducted by the authors. That review, a qualitative media analysis of news and academic articles published during the first few months of the outbreak, identified ethical care as a key theme warranting further investigation within the context of the crisis. To explore ethical care further, a set of salient ethical values for delivering care to care home residents living with dementia during the pandemic was derived from a synthesis of relevant ethical standards, codes and philosophical approaches. The ethical values identified were caring, non-maleficence, beneficence, procedural justice, dignity in death and dying, well-being, safety, and personhood. Using these ethical values as a framework, alongside examples from contemporaneous media and academic sources, this article discusses the delivery of ethical care to care home residents with dementia within the context of COVID-19. The analysis identifies positive examples of ethical values displayed by care home staff, care sector organisations, healthcare professionals and third sector advocacy organisations. However, concerns relating to the death rates, dignity, safety, well-being and personhood - of residents and staff - are also evident. These shortcomings are attributable to negligent government strategy, which resulted in delayed guidance, lack of resources and Personal Protective Equipment, unclear data, and inconsistent testing. Consequently, this review demonstrates the ways in which care homes are underfunded, under resourced and undervalued.

WebPalestra: Doença de Alzheimer, diagnóstico precoce para que?

Como reconhecer os primeiros sinais e sintomas da Doença de Alzheimer e outras demências, em sua fase incial, seja no domicilio ou na unidades de saúde e que providências tomar junto a pessoa adoecida,sua familia e a unidade de saúde.

WebPalestra: Doença de Alzheimer. Como reconhecer e cuidar na fase avançada

Aspectos evolutivos da Doença de Alzheimer e outras demências, quais as demandas da pessoa adoecida, de sua família e as providências necessárias que a unidade de saúde deve planejar para esta condição.

Good problems to have? Policy and societal implications of a disease-modifying therapy for presymptomatic late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

In the United States alone, the prevalence of AD is expected to more than double from six million people in 2019 to nearly 14 million people in 2050. Meanwhile, the track record for developing treatments for AD has been marked by decades of failure. But recent progress in genetics, neuroscience and gene editing suggest that effective treatments could be on the horizon. The arrival of such treatments would have profound implications for the way we diagnose, triage, study, and allocate resources to Alzheimer's patients. Because the disease is not rare and because it strikes late in life, the development of therapies that are expensive and efficacious but less than cures, will pose particular challenges to healthcare infrastructure. We have a window of time during which we can begin to anticipate just, equitable and salutary ways to accommodate a disease-modifying therapy Alzheimer's disease. Here we consider the implications for caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and the US healthcare system of the availability of an expensive, presymptomatic treatment for a common late-onset neurodegenerative disease for which diagnosis can be difficult.

Reflections on the IJHPR's article collection on dementia.

Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) constitute a worldwide public health crisis. In light of the AD/ADRD epidemic now existing within the global COVID-19 pandemic, the need for global action to improve dementia care is greater than ever. The article collection "Dementia- an Interdisciplinary Approach," in the Israeli Journal of Health Policy and Research (IJHPR) highlights the need for interprofessional approaches to improving outcomes for people living with dementia and their care partners, as well as the complexities of conducting dementia care research.