Health
Dementia risk could be higher for older adults who experience this type of injury, study finds
Getting injured after a fall may be an early warning sign of dementia in older adults.
That’s according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open last month.
“This study quantifies a diagnostic pattern that geriatricians and primary care providers have recognized for quite some time – falls often precede a dementia diagnosis and older adults who experience a fall should undergo cognitive screening,” co-author Molly P. Jarman, PhD., deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, told Fox News Digital.
PREVENT DANGEROUS FALLS AMONG OLDER ADULTS BY TAKING KEY STEPS
The Boston researchers analyzed U.S. Medicare claims data for more than two million adults age 66 and older who were diagnosed with a traumatic injury that resulted in an emergency department visit or hospital admission from 2014 to 2015.
Half of the injuries were the result of falls.
Getting injured after a fall may be an early warning sign of dementia in older adults, according to a new study. (iStock)
The researchers also reviewed follow-up data for at least one year after the injury, tracking how often the participants were diagnosed with dementia.
Falls are the leading cause of injury for adults 65 years and older.
Among the patients who experienced a fall, 10.6% were diagnosed with some type of dementia within a year.
The study also analyzed data from older adults who experienced an injury from an event other than falling, such as a motor vehicle collision.
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“Among the older adults with other types of injury, only 6.1% were subsequently diagnosed with dementia,” Jarman noted.
After accounting for variables that could potentially influence the results — such as demographics, the severity of injury and underlying medical issues — the patients with fall-related injuries were 20% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared to those with other types of injury.
Do falls cause dementia?
Approximately one in 10 U.S. adults over the age of 65 has dementia, past research shows.
One of the main limitations of the research is that it only looked at records back in time – so it’s unclear whether falls are causing dementia or if older adults who are at risk for dementia are more likely to experience a fall, according to the researchers.
Approximately one in 10 U.S. adults over the age of 65 has dementia, past research shows. (iStock)
“We believe the latter is most likely – older adults with mild cognitive impairment or undiagnosed dementia may be more likely to experience a fall due to changes in their gait and balance,” Jarman told Fox News Digital.
“The fall then leads them to have more interaction with the health care system, which results in their dementia diagnosis.”
“When we hear chest pain, we think heart attack — and when we hear falling, we should be thinking dementia risk.”
Michael S. Okun, M.D., medical advisor to the Parkinson’s Foundation and director of the Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida Health, confirmed that when older adults start falling, this could be a potential warning symptom.
He was not part of the study.
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“When, for example, we hear chest pain, we think heart attack — and similarly, when we hear falling, we should be thinking about dementia risk,” Okun told Fox News Digital.
“A good rule of thumb would be to initiate an examination of thinking ability as soon as possible for new onset falling.”
Shifting the paradigm
It is not routine practice to perform cognitive screening for older adults who experience a fall, according to Jarman.
“We hope that the results of our study will encourage clinicians to monitor the cognitive health of older adults who fall,” she said.
Patients with fall-related injuries were 20% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared to those with other types of injury. (iStock)
Clinicians could start screening during the initial hospitalization after a fall, Jarman suggested, and the patient’s primary care physician or a geriatrician could then perform a follow-up screening.
“The notion that an elderly person needs only physical therapy after a fall is wrong,” Okun added.
“We should be teaching folks the value of examining brain function in fallers.”
4 steps to preventing falls
Falls are the leading cause of injury for adults 65 years and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
An older adult falls about every second of every day, with one in four reporting falling each year, the same source states.
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“Falls can lead to serious, even life-threatening, injuries in older adults,” Jarman cautioned.
To prevent falls, the CDC recommends completing an inspection to make sure your home is safe. (iStock)
“Patients who fall are at a high risk of losing independence.”
Most falls occur because of a combination of risk factors — and the more risk factors someone has, the greater the likelihood of a fall, the CDC warns.
The agency recommends four practices to prevent falls.
1. Review your risk
First, have an honest discussion with your health care provider about your personal risk of falls, the CDC recommends.
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That also includes reviewing all medications if there is any chance they could make you feel sleepy or dizzy.
2. Keep moving
Regular exercise, such as Tai Chi, helps to improve balance and make your legs stronger to reduce your chances of falling.
Experts recommend asking your doctor which regimen is best for you.
3. Seek medical attention
The CDC recommends getting your eyes and feet checked every year and talking to your health provider about proper footwear.
Regular exercise helps to improve balance and make your legs stronger to reduce your chances of falling. (iStock)
Some people may have undiagnosed vision problems, like glaucoma or cataracts, which can increase the risk of falling, the same source noted.
4. Do a home inspection
Lastly, the agency recommends completing an inspection to make sure your home is safe.
This includes removing clutter, using double-sided tape to keep rugs from slipping, placing items in cabinets that can be easily reached without a step stool, installing grab bars next to and inside tubs, and placing non-slip mats on shower floors.
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People should also consider using nightlights to help guide them to the bathroom and ensuring that the entire home has adequate lighting, the CDC advised.
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Living near heavy traffic could negatively impact your heart health.
A European study, published in the journal Environmental Research, found that exposure to nighttime road traffic noise is linked to changes in the blood, leading to worsened cholesterol and cardiovascular risks.
The researchers considered data from the U.K. Biobank, Rotterdam Study, and Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, including more than 272,000 adults over the age of 30, according to a press release.
Nighttime road noise exposure was estimated at all participants’ homes based on national noise maps. Researchers also took blood samples to measure the participants’ metabolic biomarkers for disease, then mapped the link between nightly noise levels and existence of biomarkers.
Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers. (iStock)
The study found that people exposed to louder noise at night — especially sounds above 55 decibels — showed changes in 48 different substances in their blood. Twenty of these associations “remained robust” throughout all cohorts.
Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers, especially LDL “bad” cholesterol, IDL (intermediate-density lipoprotein) and unsaturated fatty acids.
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As noise levels increased, starting at around 50 decibels, cholesterol markers rose steadily, the release stated.
The authors concluded that this study “provides evidence that nighttime road traffic noise exposure from 50 dB upward is associated with alterations in blood cholesterol and lipid profiles in adults.”
Researchers noted a link between traffic noise and cardiometabolic disease. (iStock)
Study co-author Yiyan He, doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu in Finland, noted that in this type of research, small effect sizes are expected, and environmental exposures such as traffic noise are “typically modest.”
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“Despite this, we observed statistically robust and consistent associations across many biomarkers, especially those related to LDL and IDL lipoproteins,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“We also identified a clear exposure-response pattern starting at around 50 dB, suggesting that metabolic changes become more evident as noise levels increase.”
This aligns with public health guidance, as the World Health Organization recommends lower nighttime noise limits at around 40 to 45 dB, Yiyan He added.
“This finding may clarify the association between traffic noise and cardiometabolic diseases,” the researchers wrote. (iStock)
“The 55 dB level is often used as an interim benchmark associated with substantial noise annoyance and sleep disturbance,” she said. “In our study, we observed associations not only at 55 dB, but also indications of effects emerging at around 50 dB.”
The strength and consistency of the cholesterol-related associations were surprising, as these changes are usually “subtle.”
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“Instead, we found consistent associations across multiple large European cohorts, which strengthens confidence that the findings may reflect real biological patterns,” Yiyan He went on. “We were also interested to see that effects were minimal below ~50 dB, suggesting a possible threshold-like pattern.”
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The researcher noted that these findings were consistent across genders, education levels and obesity status.
The study was restricted to White Europeans, which posed a limitation. There was also a lack of information on the fasting status in the UK Biobank.
Changes in cholesterol levels were more severe than researchers expected. (iStock)
“Fasting can influence levels of certain metabolites, particularly fatty acids,” Yiyan He said. “However, based on UK Biobank documentation, fewer than 10% of participants were fasting for at least eight hours, and our main findings focused on cholesterol-related biomarkers, which are generally less sensitive to short-term fasting.”
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The researchers also lacked information on bedroom location, indoor noise exposure and time spent at home.
“These factors may introduce non-differential exposure misclassification,” Yiyan He said. “Additionally, noise exposure estimates were based on participants’ temporary residential addresses at the time of blood sampling, without considering the duration of residence.”
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“Many of these limitations would tend to bias results toward the null, so the consistent associations we observed remain noteworthy.”
Experts recommend taking measures to limit traffic noise at night. (iStock)
Based on this latest research, Yiyan He noted that nighttime noise is a “health-relevant exposure,” not just “an annoyance.”
“Our findings suggest that nighttime traffic noise may subtly but consistently affect metabolic health,” she said. “While the changes in cholesterol and lipid levels for any one individual are small, traffic noise affects a very large number of people, which means the potential public health impact could be substantial.”
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The researcher recommends taking measures like improving sound insulation, using noise-reducing strategies and placing bedrooms on the quieter side of the home when possible.
“Because sleep is a key pathway linking noise to health, protecting the nighttime sleep environment is especially important,” she added.
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