Health
Alzheimer’s and other dementia diagnoses can vary by zip code, new study finds
Your home address could determine the likelihood of getting a dementia diagnosis, a new study suggests.
Researchers from University of Michigan Medical School analyzed Medicare claims for nearly five million older adults in regional health care markets across the country — focusing on the areas that had higher rates of diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
They found that in areas with a higher rate of diagnosis — known as “diagnosis intensity” — residents were twice as likely to find out they had the condition, especially among those ages 66 to 74, along with Black and Hispanic subgroups.
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“The number of people who obtain a formal diagnosis is different across regions,” lead study author Dr. Julie Bynum, a researcher and professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at University of Michigan Medical School, told Fox News Digital.
“Those differences are related to how many people actually have dementia, which is driven by risk factors like age, race and cardiovascular risks — but we cannot explain all the differences in the percentage of people who get diagnosed on these population characteristics.”
Where you live could determine the likelihood of getting a dementia diagnosis, a study by researchers from University of Michigan Medical School found. (iStock)
Certain health system factors may come into play, Bynum said – such as the accessibility of health care and the availability of clinicians who have experience in diagnosing and caring for people with dementia.
Some of the health care markets with the highest dementia diagnosis rates include Texas (McAllen, Wichita Falls, Harlingen); Miami, Florida; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Alabama (Tuscaloosa and Montgomery); Michigan (Detroit, Dearborn, Royal Oak); Oxford, Mississippi; and New York (Bronx, Manhattan).
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Bynum wasn’t entirely surprised by the findings, she said.
She expected to find differences in the rate of formal diagnosis, she said, based on how practices and individual doctors typically respond to patients with cognitive concerns.
The accessibility of health care and the availability of clinicians who have experience with diagnosing and caring for people with dementia could impact the diagnosis rates, the new study found. (iStock)
“What was less expected is that the location of high and low diagnosis intensity areas does not follow a pattern of where there is a higher burden of disease in the population,” she said.
“I had expected that in places where dementia was a bigger problem, we might see a greater effort to get those people into care.”
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Lycia Neumann, PhD, senior director of health services research at the Alzheimer’s Association, was not involved in the study but commented on how it highlights regional disparities in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
“This suggests that unless there is intentional effort from health systems, payers and governments to promote equitable access to diagnosis, these disparity gaps will continue growing,” she told Fox News Digital.
Overcoming barriers to diagnosis
Based on the findings, people who are concerned about cognitive decline among their family members may need to “put in some extra effort” in communicating their concerns with their primary doctors, Bynum said.
“One of the problems is that the concern can get lost among all the other things older adults and their doctors address, and sorting out cognitive complaints is challenging for doctors,” she told Fox News Digital.
People who are concerned about cognitive decline in regard to their family members may need to “put in some extra effort” in communicating their concerns with their primary doctors, a researcher said. (iStock)
“In addition, we should all be encouraging our local health systems to develop the capacity to address the needs of this burgeoning population through clinical and supportive programming.”
Neumann said younger individuals and those from “historically underrepresented ethnic and racialized groups” have a greater risk of being underdiagnosed.
“We know that barriers to an early and precise dementia diagnosis exist at all levels,” she said.
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“They go from stigma and lack of awareness of signs and symptoms to barriers to health care access related to health insurance coverage, distance to clinical settings, and lack of transportation and companionship.”
It is Neumann’s hope, she said, that studies like this one spark efforts to raise awareness of early warning signs and encourage individuals to discuss any concerns with their health care providers.
“Barriers to an early and precise dementia diagnosis exist at all levels.”
Educational programs and interventions can also facilitate access to timely dementia diagnoses, she added.
“After all, an accurate diagnosis is the first step to appropriate treatment and care.”
Potential limitations
One of the study’s limitations is that the researchers were not able to determine whether the rate of diagnosis is “too high or too low” based only on their data, Bynum noted.
“We can only say that it is higher or lower than the national average rate,” she said.
“We would need to know the actual number of people living with dementia in each community, which would be incredibly costly to measure.”
This approach, however, can help researchers understand whether getting a formal diagnosis is more or less difficult across geographical areas, according to Bynum.
“We should all be encouraging our local health systems to develop the capacity to address the needs of this burgeoning population through clinical and supportive programming,” a dementia expert said. (iStock)
“There are always limitations regarding studies based on claims data,” Neumann noted.
“Claims data are only about individuals who received care, in this case a diagnosis — so it excludes people who might be living with the disease but haven’t been able to access the health care system or haven’t received an accurate diagnosis.”
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Additionally, the information collected in medical claims is for payment and reimbursement purposes, not for research — so it doesn’t allow for the understanding of the factors that might be driving the disparities, she added.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
The study population is also only composed of older adults enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service, or traditional Medicare, Neumann noted.
A married couple who have long enjoyed the game of Scrabble both together and separately before they even met are never at a loss for words — and attribute their wedded bliss in part to their love of the nostalgic game.
They’re still playing in tournaments built around the game decades after they began doing so.
Graham Harding and his wife Helen Harding, both in their 60s, have been married for over 20 years.
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They met in the 1990s at Scrabble tournaments, as news agency SWNS reported.
But it was a “special match” in 2000 that brought the couple together — and has kept them together now.
Graham and Helen Harding on their wedding day. They’ve been playing in Scrabble tournaments for some 30 years. (Courtesy Graham and Helen Harding via SWNS)
Graham Harding is from the East Berkshire Scrabble Club, while his wife Helen is from the Leicester Scrabble Club in the U.K.
They have been taking part in the UK Open Scrabble Championship in Reading this week.
“The more words you know, the more ammunition you’ve got.”
“Scrabble is all about having a good vocabulary,” said Graham Harding, SWNS noted.
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“But it is a Scrabble vocabulary — not necessarily everyday English.”
Added Helen Harding, “The more words you know, the more ammunition you’ve got.”
Graham and Helen Harding’s wedding cake. They bonded over their love of Scrabble – and are still playing in tournaments together. (Courtesy Graham and Helen Harding via SWNS)
The couple said they were “vague acquaintances” for about five years after they first met.
Then they got together after a special match in Swindon.
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They maintained a long-distance relationship before they got married in 2004.
The couple even brought their Scrabble board to their wedding.
The couple likely have played thousands of games between them. (Courtesy Graham and Helen Harding via SWNS)
It featured a message with Scrabble pieces that said, “Congratulations on your wedding day” — while their wedding cake said, in Scrabble letters, “Helen and Graham.”
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
They each took up the hobby early in life well before they met each other.
The tournament that’s been taking place this week is the first since the COVID pandemic after a five-year break — and the couple has played some two dozen games in it as of Friday, SWNS reported.
It might be worth working a little bit harder to get that much-desired, but often elusive, good night’s sleep.
Deep sleep clears the mind of waste just as a “dishwasher” cleans dirty plates and glasses, just-published research suggests — and there’s more.
The findings also offer insights into how sleeping pills may disrupt the “brainwashing” system — potentially affecting cognitive function for people over the long run.
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Study senior author professor Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester and the University of Copenhagen said norepinephrine (a neurotransmitter and hormone) triggers blood vessels to contract — generating slow pulsations that create a rhythmic flow in the surrounding fluid to carry away waste, news agency SWNS noted.
Said Nedergaard, “It’s like turning on the dishwasher before you go to bed and waking up with a clean brain. . . . We’re essentially asking what drives this process and trying to define restorative sleep based on” this “glymphatic clearance.”
“It’s like turning on the dishwasher before you go to bed and waking up with a clean brain.” (iStock)
The brain has a built-in waste removal process – the glymphatic system – that circulates fluid in the brain and spinal cord to clear out waste, according to the scientists.
The process helps remove toxic proteins that form sticky plaques linked to neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
But the scientists indicated that what drives the system was unclear until now, according to the study.
Is all sleep created equal? The researchers wanted to find out.
To find clues, Nedergaard and her team looked into what happens in mice when their brains sleep, as SWNS reported of the study. The team focused on the relationship between norepinephrine and blood flow during deep sleep.
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They found that norepinephrine waves correlate to variations in brain blood volume — suggesting that norepinephrine triggers a rhythmic pulsation in the blood vessels. The researchers then compared the changes in blood volume to brain fluid flow.
The brain fluid flow fluctuates in correspondence to blood volume changes, suggesting the vessels act as pumps to propel the surrounding brain fluid to flush out waste.
During deep sleep, toxic proteins that form sticky plaques linked to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease are removed, scientists say in a new study. (iStock)
Natalie Hauglund of the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford, the study’s lead author, said, “You can view norepinephrine as [the] conductor of an orchestra.”
She added, “There’s a harmony in the constriction and dilation of the arteries, which then drives the cerebrospinal fluid through the brain to remove the waste products.”
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Hauglund said she wanted to understand whether all sleep is created equal.
To find out, the research team administered zolpidem, a common drug to aid sleep, to mice.
“If people aren’t getting the full benefits of sleep, they should be aware of that, so they can make informed decisions.”
They found that the norepinephrine waves during deep sleep were 50% lower in zolpidem-treated mice than in naturally sleeping mice.
Although the zolpidem-treated mice fell asleep more quickly — fluid transport into the brain dropped more than 30%, as SWNS reported.
Two new studies indicate the importance of getting a good night’s sleep — with one study saying a lack of sleep may be sabotaging the brain’s ability to keep intrusive thoughts at bay. (iStock)
The researchers say their findings, published in the journal Cell, suggest that the sleeping aid may disrupt the norepinephrine-driven waste clearance during sleep.
Hauglund said, “More and more people are using sleep medication, and it’s really important to know if that’s healthy sleep. If people aren’t getting the full benefits of sleep, they should be aware of that, so they can make informed decisions.”
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The research team said the findings likely apply to humans, who also have a glymphatic system, although it requires further testing.
Nedergaard added, “Now we know norepinephrine is driving the cleaning of the brain, we may figure out how to get people a long and restorative sleep.”
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
Meanwhile, a lack of sleep may be doing more damage than just making people groggy.
It could be sabotaging the brain’s ability to keep intrusive thoughts at bay.
Anyone who suffers from sleep deprivation may find that the brain’s defense against unwanted memories is weakened, say experts. (iStock)
Another new study, this one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sleep deprivation weakens the brain’s defense against unwanted memories, allowing them to flood the mind, according to the New York Post.
“We show that sleep deprivation disrupts prefrontal inhibition of memory retrieval, and that the overnight restoration of this inhibitory mechanism is associated with time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep,” the scientists said.
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