Will Good Students Be Able to Sidestep Alzheimer’s?

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Kids at the head of the class not only have better college and job prospects, they may also stave off Alzheimer’s disease, two new studies suggest.

People with the best school grades and most complex jobs later on — as managers, teachers or executives, for example — have roughly a 40 to 60 percent reduced risk of developing dementia, according to two teams of Swedish researchers.

But, both Swedish studies only found an association between school grades, later jobs and risks of dementia, and not a proven cause-and-effect link.

“We are just starting to figure out that there is this lifetime risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dean Hartley, director of science initiatives at the Alzheimer’s Association, which played no part in either study.

Part of reducing the risk for dementia is to build up what experts call “cognitive reserve,” he said.

Cognitive reserve is established by building many links — called synapses — between brain cells. It seems that the more you use your brain, the more connections are created between brain cells, Hartley said.

A complex job that requires a lot of brain work can preserve those cell links and build even more, Hartley said.

In turn, “having more connections in your brain allows you to maintain more of your thinking and more memory abilities,” he said.

In one of the Swedish studies, a research team led by Serhiy Dekhtyar, from the clinical neuroscience department at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, followed more than 7,500 people 65 and older who took part in the Uppsala Birth Cohort Study for more than 20 years. Data on participants’ childhood mental ability was also collected.

The researchers found that 950 people developed dementia, and risk for mental decline increased 21 percent among those whose grades were in the bottom 20 percent of the overall Swedish population.

But risk for dementia decreased 23 percent among those who had jobs that required complex thinking and work with data and numbers — the managers, teachers and executives, Hartley said.

People who had both high grades in school and a complex job later in life had the highest reductions in the risk for dementia — 39 percent, the researchers found.

“Our findings highlight the importance of early life cognitive performance for the late-life risk of dementia,” Dekhtyar said in a news release. “It appears that baseline cognitive ability — even at age 10 — may provide the foundation for successful cognitive aging much later in life.”

In the other study, a team also from the Karolinska Institute found that dementia risk was increased more than 50 percent in people over 75 who had the lowest 20 percent of school grades, even if they had more formal education or a job requiring complex thinking.

High school graduates had a 28 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those with only an elementary school education, the researchers say.

In addition, women with complex jobs requiring negotiating, instructing and supervising people had a 60 percent lower risk of developing dementia compared with those who had less complex jobs, the researchers found.

The researchers’ conclusions were based on data on 440 men and women 75 and older who were followed for nine years. During that time, 163 study participants developed dementia.

Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park, said the studies’ findings offered little practical application for children.

“It is unrealistic to think that a 9-year-old will apply himself more in school just so that he will have a more fulfilling quality of life 50 or 60 years later,” he said.

Also, “a cynic might argue that there will always be a bottom 25 percent in terms of test performance and grades,” Adesman added.

However, enough other sound reasons exist why students should apply themselves in school, he said.

Dr. Luca Giliberto, an Alzheimer’s investigator at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y., said mental activity is good preventive medicine. “Being mentally and physically active gives you an advantage in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s and will help you build that cognitive reserve,” Giliberto said.

The results of these studies were scheduled for presentation Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, in Washington, D.C. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

For more on Alzheimer’s disease, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

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As Baby Boomers Age, Alzheimer’s Rates Will Soar

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is set to skyrocket in the United States due to the aging of the baby-boom generation, and the cost of caring for these patients will devour a large chunk of Medicare’s budget, a new study suggests.

More than 28 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease during the course of their lifetimes, the researchers estimated.

By 2050, all baby boomers will be older than 85 and half of those still alive will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, said lead author Lisa Alecxih, senior vice president of The Lewin Group and director of the Lewin Center for Aging and Disability Policy.

That’s up from an estimated 1.2 percent prevalence of Alzheimer’s among boomers in 2020, when most boomers will be in their 60s and early 70s, Alecxih said.

Improvements in medical science are allowing people to live longer, but a long life is the main risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease, she said.

“The incidence of the disease increases as you grow older, as does the severity,” Alecxih said.

That means that by 2040, more than twice as many baby boomers will have Alzheimer’s disease (10.3 million) compared with the equivalent age group in 2015 (4.7 million), the researchers said.

The cost of caring for more than 10 million Alzheimer’s patients will consume nearly 25 percent of Medicare spending in 2040, the study predicted.

Findings from the study are scheduled to be presented Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, in Washington, D.C. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

As baby boomers with Alzheimer’s live longer, they will begin to develop more severe forms of the disease and the cost of caring for them will go through the roof, said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach for the Alzheimer’s Association.

“During the time they are living, they continue to degenerate,” Fargo said. “Many people end up in long-term care or nursing homes, and require around-the-clock care for many years. This isn’t like you get a heart attack and you pass away. You get this degenerative disease and it requires that you get care for many years.”

In 2020, the projected Medicare costs of caring for baby boomers with Alzheimer’s in the community will be about 2 percent of total Medicare spending, amounting to nearly $12 billion in 2014 dollars, the researchers estimated.

But by 2040, when the baby-boom generation is between 76 and 94 years old, projected Medicare costs increase to more than 24 percent of total Medicare spending, or about $328 billion in 2014 dollars, the new analysis said.

“I think the crisis that will occur as our population grows and ages is real, and although the numbers look like they possibly couldn’t be true, they are,” said Dr. David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist and vice-chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council. “In fact, they’re pretty conservative.”

To stem this tidal wave, more funding for Alzheimer’s research is needed to prepare therapies and preventive measures that will reduce the number of baby boomers needing expensive around-the-clock care, Maria Carrillo, chief science officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, said in an association news release.

A number of experimental therapies are in the research pipeline that have the potential to delay onset of Alzheimer’s or possibly even prevent the disease, but the level of funding has hampered progress, she said.

“Public funding for this research is extremely limited compared to the magnitude of the problem,” Carillo said. “If we’re going to change the current trajectory of the disease, we need consistent and meaningful investments in research from the federal government to ensure a more robust pipeline.”

According to an Alzheimer’s Association report released earlier this year, a new treatment that delays onset could save $220 billion within the first five years of its introduction. It would also cut the number of people who have the disease in 2050 by 42 percent, from 13.5 million to 7.8 million, the report said.

Baby boomers may be able to help themselves too, Fargo added.

“There is good research now we’re seeing that lifestyle changes may make a difference,” he said. “It’s never too late to stop smoking. It’s never too late to become physically active, or lower your cholesterol, or better control your blood pressure. Although we’re not certain this can prevent or delay Alzheimer’s, it will have a positive effect on preserving your memory and ability to think.”

Baby boomers also can aid scientific efforts by taking part in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s, Fargo said.

“The folks in this baby-boom generation are really the ones we need to step up to the plate and participate in some of the large Alzheimer’s prevention studies that are happening now,” he said. “Even people who don’t yet have any cognitive [mental] decline can help in this fight, by participating in those prevention studies.”

More information

For more on Alzheimer’s disease, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

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Many Don’t Tell Docs About Using Alternative Therapies for Pain

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many Americans with chronic pain who use alternative therapies — such as acupuncture — don’t discuss these treatments with their doctors, a new study finds.

“Our study confirms that most of our patients with chronic pain are seeking complementary treatments to supplement the care we provide in the primary care setting,” lead author Dr. Charles Elder, an affiliate investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, said in a Kaiser news release. Elder is also the physician lead for Kaiser Permanente’s complementary and alternative medicine program.

The researchers surveyed more than 6,000 patients in Oregon and Washington. All of the study volunteers had three or more outpatient visits for chronic pain within 18 months. Fifty-eight percent of people with chronic pain had used chiropractic care, acupuncture or both to treat their pain, the study revealed.

Many patients informed their primary care doctors about their use of these alternative therapies. But 35 percent of those who had acupuncture and 42 percent of those who had chiropractic care didn’t mention the treatments to their doctor. However, nearly all of those patients said they’d gladly share the information if their doctor asked.

“The problem is that too often, doctors don’t ask about this treatment, and patients don’t volunteer the information,” Elder said.

The study was published July 20 in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Chronic pain affects about 100 million Americans, and it costs nearly $600 billion a year, according to the Institute of Medicine.

“We want our patients to get better, so we need to ask them about the alternative and complementary approaches they are using. If we know what’s working and what’s not working, we can do a better job advising patients, and we may be able to recommend an approach they haven’t tried,” Elder said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic pain.

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Too Much TV, Too Little Exercise When Young May Hasten Mental Decline Later

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Take heed, couch potatoes: Excessive TV time in young adulthood might raise your odds for mental decline decades later, a new study suggests.

“Even early and mid-adulthood may be critical periods for promotion of physical activity” to help keep memory and thinking strong in old age, lead researcher Tina Hoang said in a news release from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Hoang, a research associate at the Northern California Institute of Research and Education in San Francisco, is slated to present her team’s findings Monday at the annual meeting of the Alzheimer’s Association, in Washington, D.C.

Prior studies have suggested that physical activity later in life may help protect against mental decline, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. However, Hoang’s team said the effects of exercise in early adulthood on late-life mental health are much less clear.

In their study, the researchers tracked more than 3,200 white and black Americans, aged 18 to 30. They specifically looked at levels of physical activity and television viewing over 25 years.

They found that 17 percent of the participants had a long-term pattern of low physical activity, 11 percent a long-term pattern of high levels of television viewing, and 3 percent had both.

Thinking and memory tests were conducted after 25 years. According to the researchers, people with long-term low physical activity, as well as people with long-term high television viewing, scored much worse on the tests compared to those who were more active and watched less television.

Those with both long-term low physical activity and high television viewing were nearly two times more likely to have poor mental function in mid-life, the study found.

While the study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, “sedentary behaviors, like TV viewing, could be especially relevant for future generations of adults due to the growing use of screen-based technologies,” Hoang said.

And, she added that, “because research indicates that Alzheimer’s and other dementias develop over several decades, increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior beginning in early adulthood may have a significant public health impact.”

Two experts agreed that the study couldn’t prove a causative link, but they also agreed that physical and mental health are closely tied.

“The results are consistent with the literature on physical exercise and its benefits for mental functioning, particularly in the areas of attention and executive function,” said Margaret Sewell, education director at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

Another expert, Dr. Luca Giliberto, said the findings were “not surprising.”

“Physical activity reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and vascular dementia,” said Giliberto, an investigator at The Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer’s Disease at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y.

“While more thorough cognitive [mental skill] assessments and further follow-up of the current [study participants] are needed … the study is a nice demonstration of how healthier lifestyles can improve late life cognition and quality,” Gilberto said.

Experts note that findings presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a guide to physical activity.

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Type 1 Diabetes Linked to Higher Risk of Dementia

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People with type 1 diabetes may face a greater risk of developing thinking and memory problems as they age compared to the general population, new research suggests.

The study found that people with type 1 diabetes were 83 percent more likely to develop dementia as seniors.

“Our study found a modestly higher risk of all-cause dementia in people with type 1 diabetes. The next step is to figure out what that means, and how we can help people with type 1 diabetes age successfully,” said study author Rachel Whitmer, a senior scientist in the division of research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.

However, Whitmer also noted that the study doesn’t prove that type 1 diabetes caused dementia, only that the two diseases were linked. “This is an observational study that shows association, not causation. We don’t have tissue from these people’s brains,” she added.

Whitmer plans to present the findings Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, in Washington D.C. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

Previous research has shown a link between type 2 diabetes and dementia risk. Since people with type 1 diabetes are now routinely living into their senior years, Whitmer and her colleagues wondered if the same would be true for people with type 1 diabetes.

Although both type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause problems with blood sugar regulation, the root cause of each disease is different. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly attacks insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This leaves people with type 1 diabetes with little to no insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Insulin is a hormone that’s necessary for the cells in the body to be able to use carbohydrates from foods as fuel. In type 2 diabetes, the body develops resistance to insulin and doesn’t use carbohydrates effectively, the ADA said.

For the study, the researchers reviewed records from all of Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California members. They found more than 490,000 who were over 60 years old and had no history of dementia as of 2002. The researchers collected information from 2002 through mid-2014.

From this larger group, they found 334 people with type 1 diabetes. During the study period, 16 percent of the people with type 1 diabetes developed dementia. Whitmer said that they looked for all types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

In the rest of the group, 12 percent of people developed dementia, the researchers found. The rate of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes in the study was nearly 15 percent, Whitmer said.

“Four percent more of people with type 1 diabetes than the whole sample developed all-cause dementia. We’re not seeing something like double the risk, but this is a real increase,” Whitmer said.

When the researchers removed people with type 2 diabetes from the general population sample, the association between type 1 diabetes and dementia became even stronger.

However, when the researchers further adjusted the data to account for factors such as sex, age, race, stroke, peripheral artery disease and high blood pressure, the link between type 1 diabetes and dementia decreased. After these adjustments, people with type 1 diabetes were 73 percent more likely to have dementia than the rest of the group.

Whitmer said it’s possible that as in type 2 diabetes, high blood sugar levels may cause some sort of damage to blood vessels that could contribute to dementia in people with type 1 diabetes. But the reason behind the association isn’t clear from this study, and more research is needed, she said.

“The correlation with type 2 and dementia is so strong, but a correlation with type 1 diabetes hadn’t yet been shown,” said Helen Nickerson, the director of translational research for JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

And while the current study does find an association, Nickerson said that it raised more questions than it answered. For example, she said, do people with better blood sugar management have less dementia than people whose blood sugar is less well controlled? She said it’s also important to note that the study’s type 1 diabetes sample size wasn’t large.

Still, she said, “Some people with type 1 have insulin resistance to varying degrees [in addition to type 1 diabetes], and that may be the connection. It’s something important to look at.”

One factor Nickerson thinks probably isn’t related to the development of dementia is low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). “People with type 1 diabetes can get a lot of hypoglycemia, so if hypoglycemia were involved, I imagine you would’ve seen a stronger association,” she said.

Both Whitmer and Nickerson agreed that until more study is done to define the connection between type 1 diabetes and dementia, it’s a good idea to improve blood sugar control and keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check.

Whitmer added that it’s important that this issue “is on the radar of clinicians. Type 1 diabetes is a disease that requires constant vigilance and constant self-care. We need to understand how cognition is affected with age.”

Both experts also pointed out that this study population was born in the 1940s or earlier, and likely diagnosed with type 1 diabetes quite a while ago. Management of the disease has changed significantly since then, so these findings may not apply to people who’ve been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes more recently.

More information

Learn more about treating type 1 diabetes from JDRF.

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Could Antibiotics Raise a Child’s Risk for Juvenile Arthritis?

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Here’s yet another reason not to overuse antibiotics: Children treated with the antibacterial drugs may face a greater risk for developing juvenile arthritis, new research suggests.

The study found that children and teens prescribed antibiotics had about twice the risk of developing juvenile arthritis compared to children the same age who were not prescribed the drugs.

“This risk was greatest within a year of receiving antibiotics and increased with the number of antibiotic courses children were prescribed,” said study lead author Dr. Daniel Horton, a research fellow with the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Child Health Institute of New Jersey.

Antifungal and antiviral drugs did not show the same effect, he said.

The results suggest antibiotics may trigger juvenile arthritis in a small subset of children who are prone to developing this disease, Horton said.

Parents shouldn’t panic, however. “The majority of children who receive antibiotics will not develop arthritis as a result,” he added.

Between 4,300 and 9,700 U.S. kids under age 16 are diagnosed with juvenile arthritis each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The autoimmune disease may involve pain and swelling in one or many joints, and cause other symptoms such as fevers, rash and/or eye inflammation, says the American College of Rheumatology.

As genetics seem to account for only about one quarter of cases, interest has turned to environmental factors as possible links to juvenile arthritis.

To analyze the possibility of an antibiotic exposure connection, investigators sifted through information obtained from a British electronic records system.

The database included details on 152 juvenile arthritis diagnoses among more than 450,000 children in the United Kingdom between 1 and 15 years old who were diagnosed from 1994 to 2013.

After cross-referencing antibiotic prescription histories among 1,520 healthy children and those with newly developed juvenile arthritis, the study team concluded that taking antibiotics in childhood was linked to double the risk for the painful disorder. And in the wake of five antibiotic courses, the risk tripled.

Antibiotics are widely overprescribed for many infections that would otherwise resolve without treatment, Horton said. And they pose a significant risk for side effects such as allergic reactions, diarrhea and even the onset of obesity or other chronic diseases, he added.

It isn’t clear from this study that antibiotics actually cause juvenile arthritis, however. “Another explanation for these findings may be that infections cause arthritis, or that children who ultimately develop arthritis also get more infections because their immune system does not work properly,” Horton noted.

The findings appear in the July 20 online issue of Pediatrics.

Dr. Matthew Kronman, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington, agreed that the study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

“It’s also the case that the overall risk for [juvenile arthritis] is very low,” Kronman added. “Even if that risk approximately doubles among children treated with antibiotics, you’re still talking about just 10 cases out of every 100,000 children.”

Still, the findings are concerning, he said. “This very well done and elegant study does add to our growing understanding that there is some risk with antibiotics, and that they do more than just treat the bacteria they are meant to treat,” said Kronman, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Antibiotics affect billions of cells, and can set children up for systemic inflammation and irritation, he said. “Yes, sometimes they’re needed, and in those situations the goal should be to pick the one that is most targeted, with the least side effects, and for the shortest duration possible,” Kronman said. “But when children don’t really need them, they shouldn’t be given.”

Overuse of these drugs is also associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria — germs that don’t respond to available drugs. The CDC says 23,000 Americans die each year from infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

More information

There’s more on childhood arthritis at the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

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Antibiotics Myths Still Common Among Parents

By Tara Haelle
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many American parents still have misconceptions about when their children should receive antibiotics and what the medications do, a new study finds.

Looking at data results spanning more than a decade, researchers saw that parents with Medicaid insurance were more likely to misunderstand appropriate antibiotic use than parents with private commercial insurance.

Medicaid is the government-run insurance program for lower-income Americans.

“While not confirmed, it is possible that the combination of health literacy and underlying socioeconomic factors could contribute to both the misconceptions and expectations for antibiotics,” said Dr. Louise Vaz. She is assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases and medical director of the Outpatient Antibiotic Therapy Program at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

“We do need to better tailor our messages to the specific misconceptions out there, particularly for colds, flu and bronchitis,” Vaz said.

The findings were published online July 20 and in the August print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers surveyed slightly more than 700 parents in Massachusetts about their beliefs regarding antibiotics. The parents all had a child under 6 years old. About half had private commercial insurance. The other half had Medicaid.

On the whole, parents of children insured by Medicaid answered fewer questions about antibiotics correctly. Additionally, parents in the Medicaid group were younger. They also tended to have less education than those with private insurance, the findings showed.

Almost 80 percent of parents with private insurance correctly answered that antibiotics are not needed for colds or the flu. Among Medicaid parents, 44 percent answered correctly. Similarly, 53 percent of parents with private insurance correctly answered that green nasal discharge doesn’t mean a child needs antibiotics. That compared to 38 percent of parents with Medicaid.

“There have been active efforts to educate the public regarding the overuse of antibiotics, so this is a surprise that there is still a big difference between one group of patients and another,” said Dr. Pam Shaw, a pediatrician at the University of Kansas Hospital. “This study should make us think of how we can change strategies to make sure we are reaching all our parents.”

Just over one-third of parents with Medicaid had heard of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. More than half of parents with private commercial insurance had heard of these infections, the investigators found.

Only 6 percent of parents with private commercial insurance would rather give their child an antibiotic that the child probably doesn’t need instead of waiting to see whether the condition goes away on its own. Meanwhile, 21 percent of parents with Medicaid would do so, according to the report.

“These findings are important as parental attitudes may influence pediatricians to prescribe antibiotics when they may not be necessary, contributing to overuse of antibiotics,” Vaz said. “We found that relatively little progress has been made in correcting key misconceptions.”

Few parents in either group, for example, knew that antibiotics aren’t usually needed to treat bronchitis. Only 16 percent of commercially insured parents and 15 percent of Medicaid parents answered that question correctly.

“I think a big part of this is just that people don’t realize for the most part that viruses don’t respond to antibiotic treatment and that the vast majority of infections people — especially kids — have are viral,” said Dr. Steven Wexberg, a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s. “Your body just fights it off. For the overwhelming majority of infections for children, a ‘tincture of time’ is what they need.”

Parents in both groups, however, reported that they trust their doctors a great deal for getting advice on preventing coughs, colds and the flu, which offers an opportunity, Wexberg said.

“The primary issue here has to do with education, and related to that are the underlying issues of communication, trust and relationship,” he said. “When there’s better communication and the patient’s parents have more of a relationship with the doctor, that helps patient satisfaction, and patients are more likely to follow recommendations.”

Wexberg said it’s possible the higher rate of misconceptions among Medicaid families might be due to receiving care in different places, such as emergency rooms or urgent care clinics.

“If they’re getting care in different centers from different practitioners, there’s no continuity of communication, and having trust and a relationship with the provider is key,” Wexberg said. “If they have an ongoing relationship with a primary care provider, they would get more education and the consistent message that, for viral infections, antibiotics are not indicated.”

More information

For more about antibiotic use, especially for children, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Hand-to-shin ab workout

 

Want rock-solid abs? Try this hand-to-shin sit-up variation.

How to
Start with legs straight out and arms straight above, parallel to your ears.

Raise one leg and opposite hand towards each other. 

Return to start position and repeat on opposite side.

Breathe out at the top of the movement and inhale as you return to starting position.

Repeat movement 10 times.

NEXT: 7 core exercises with a 'twist'

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Could a Saliva Test Help Spot Alzheimer’s?

SUNDAY, July 19, 2015 (HealthDay News) — It’s still very early, but scientists say a test based on a patient’s saliva might someday help detect Alzheimer’s disease.

“Saliva is easily obtained, safe and affordable, and has promising potential for predicting and tracking cognitive decline, but we’re in the very early stages of this work and much more research is needed,” study author Shraddha Sapkota, a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Alberta in Canada, said in a news release from the Alzheimer’s Association.

The study was to be presented Sunday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington, D.C. Experts note that studies presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

In the study, Sapkota’s team tested the saliva of 22 people with Alzheimer’s disease, 25 people with what’s known as mild cognitive impairment (a decline in memory and thinking that’s sometimes a precursor to dementia), as well as 35 people whose mental skills were normal for their age.

They found that the saliva of people with Alzheimer’s had different levels of certain substances compared to the saliva of healthy people or those with mild cognitive impairment.

Experts agreed that the findings held promise, but much more research will be needed.

“This is a very preliminary study with a small number of subjects and the results are far from conclusive,” said Dr. Allison Reiss, head of the Inflammation Section at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

She believes the current study lacks information on possible confounding factors — things such as “coexisting illnesses, medications, hydration state, tobacco use and multiple other variables” that could influence what’s found in the saliva samples.

“There are many gaps in the evidence,” Reiss said. “It is uncertain whether the strength and consistency of the relationship between these metabolites [in saliva] and Alzheimer’s risk will be maintained in a large multicenter study.”

Still, Dr. Paul Wright, chair of neurology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., said the research “is still in its infancy but very promising.”

If a saliva test lives up to its promise, one advantage is “the ease of obtaining a sample,” he said.

But that convenience also brings its own problems, Wright added. People might ask for a test even when they don’t show any signs of dementia, and “this may result in anxiety and depression if there is a false positive result,” he said.

For that reason, “larger studies are needed to corroborate and validate their findings,” Wright said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer’s disease.

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Dermatologist Offers Advice on Treating Kids’ Hives

SATURDAY, July 18, 2015 (HealthDay News) — If your child develops an itchy rash, it could be hives, experts say.

Common symptoms of hives — which are usually temporary and harmless — include: slightly raised, pink or red areas on the skin; welts that occur alone, in a group, or that connect over a large area; and skin swelling, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

Hives can be triggered by a wide variety of things, including allergic reactions to food or medication, infections, exercise, stress, cold temperatures, insect bites and stings, pollen, sun exposure and scratching the skin.

“The best remedy for hives is to try to avoid whatever triggers them, although identifying this is often difficult,” Dr. Bruce Brod, a clinical professor of dermatology at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said in an AAD news release.

“One way to help identify your triggers is to keep a log of your child’s symptoms, including the day and time the hives occur and how long they last. You should also pay attention to any changes to your child’s regular environment that may be contributing to the problem, such as dust, animals or the outdoors,” Brod said.

There are a number of things you can do if your child develops hives, Brod said.

An over-the-counter oral antihistamine for children will help relieve the itch and discomfort, and applying a cool washcloth to the affected area might provide additional relief.

Try to prevent your child from scratching the hives, as doing so will worsen the rash. Keep your child’s fingernails short and apply an over-the-counter anti-itch cream with pramoxine or menthol, Brod suggested.

Other treatments include a bath in lukewarm water (no more than 10 minutes), followed by pat drying with a towel and then applying a gentle moisturizing cream or lotion. Your child should wear loose-fitting clothes that are 100-percent cotton.

“If your child’s hives seem to worsen or your child is experiencing more serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing or vomiting, go to the emergency room immediately, as these symptoms can be more serious or even life-threatening,” Brod said.

More information

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has more about hives.

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