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.
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The study population is also only composed of older adults enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service, or traditional Medicare, Neumann noted.
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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