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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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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