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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As colorectal cancer (CRC) is now the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50, a new report reveals some surprising shifts in the incidence of the disease.
Although rates of CRC have been declining among seniors, those 65 and under are facing a rise in diagnoses, according to a report titled Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2026, from the American Cancer Society.
Adults 65 and younger comprise nearly half (45%) of all new colorectal cancer cases — a significant increase from 27% in 1995, states the report, which was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
The disease is rising fastest among adults 20 to 49 years old, at a rate of 3% per year.
Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50. (iStock)
Among adults 50 and under, 75% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Half of the diagnoses in that age range are made between the ages of 45 and 49. Although that age group is eligible to receive routine screenings, just 37% do so.
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The report also revealed that rectal cancer is on the rise, now accounting for about one-third (32%) of all CRC cases — an increase from 27% in the mid-2000s.
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“After decades of progress, the risk of dying from colorectal cancer is climbing in younger generations of men and women, confirming a real uptick in disease because of something we’re doing or some other exposure,” said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director, surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report, in a press release.
Among adults 50 and under, 75% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Half of the diagnoses in that age range are made between the ages of 45 and 49. (iStock)
“We need to redouble research efforts to understand the cause, but also circumvent deaths through earlier detection by educating clinicians and the general public about symptoms and increasing screening in people 45-54 years.”
It is projected that 158,850 new cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed this year, and that the disease will cause 55,230 deaths, per the report.
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More than half of CRC cases can be linked to high-risk behaviors, the researchers said. Those include lack of nutrition, high alcohol consumption, smoking, lack of exercise and obesity.
“These findings further underscore that colorectal cancer is worsening among younger generations and highlight the immediate need for eligible adults to begin screening at the recommended age of 45,” said Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society.
When the disease is caught at a local (early) stage, the five-year survival rate is 95%. (iStock)
“The report also shines a light on the crucial importance of continued funding for research to help discover new therapies to treat the disease and advance patient care.”
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When the disease is caught at a local (early) stage, the five-year survival rate is 95%, the report stated.
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A new study suggests that middle-aged men may be more vulnerable to faster biological aging, potentially linked to exposure to “forever chemicals.”
The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, examined how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS, could impact aging at the cellular level.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals commonly used in nonstick cookware, food packaging, water-resistant fabrics and other consumer products, the study noted.
Their chemical structure makes them highly resistant to breaking down, allowing them to accumulate in water, soil and the human body.
Chinese researchers analyzed blood samples from 326 adults enrolled in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2000.
A new study suggests that middle-aged men could face accelerated biological aging at the cellular level due to exposure to PFAS. (iStock)
The researchers measured levels of 11 PFAS compounds in participants’ blood and used DNA-based “epigenetic clocks” — tools that analyze chemical changes to DNA to estimate biological age — to determine how quickly their bodies were aging at the cellular level, the study stated.
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Two compounds, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), were detected in 95% of participants.
Higher concentrations of those chemicals were associated with faster biological aging in men of certain age groups, but not in women.
“People should not panic.”
The compounds most strongly linked to accelerated aging were not the PFAS chemicals that typically receive the most public attention, the researchers noted.
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“The associations were strongest in adults aged 50 to 64, particularly in men,” Dr. Xiangwei Li, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author, told Fox News Digital.
“While this does not establish that PFAS cause aging, it suggests that these widely present ‘forever chemicals’ may be linked to molecular changes related to long-term health and aging.”
The study found that two of the compounds were detected in 95% of participants, and higher levels were linked to faster biological aging in men ages 50–64. (iStock)
Midlife may represent a more sensitive biological period, when the body becomes more vulnerable to age-related stressors, according to the researchers.
Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, may influence biological aging markers, potentially increasing vulnerability to environmental pollutants.
While Li said “people should not panic,” she does recommend looking for reasonable ways to reduce exposure.
That might mean checking local drinking water reports, using certified water filters designed to reduce PFAS, and limiting the use of stain- or grease-resistant products when alternatives are available.
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Meaningful reductions in PFAS exposure will likely depend on broader regulatory action and environmental cleanup efforts, Li added.
The researchers noted that midlife could be a particularly sensitive stage, when the body is more susceptible to stressors associated with aging. (iStock)
Study limitations
The researchers outlined several important limitations of the research, including that the findings show an association, but do not prove that PFAS directly causes accelerated aging.
“The study is cross-sectional, meaning exposure and aging markers were measured at the same time, so we cannot determine causality,” Li told Fox News Digital.
The study was also relatively small, limited to 326 adults age 50 or older, which means the findings may not apply to younger people or broader populations.
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Researchers measured PFAS levels using data collected between 1999 and 2000, and today’s exposure patterns may differ.
Li added that while PFAS is known to persist in the environment and the body, these results should be validated through larger, more recent studies that follow participants over time.
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