GaitIQ founder Rick Morris started his company to design software that is capable of identifying early signs of Alzheimer's by analyzing an individual's gait, according to the Rivard Report . Morris said proteins that appear as plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer's begin manifesting in one's 30s, but few carriers are aware until symptoms appear and they receive a formal diagnosis, mainly due to the cost of diagnostic tests. He hopes GaitIQ's Alzheimer's screening can help ward off the disease for years and save people thousands of dollars in healthcare expenses. Morris says by measuring subtle shifts in a person's walking patterns early in Alzheimer's progression, "through early intervention we can definitely move the needle." Helping to build GaitIQ's underlying technology is Barbara Schnan Mastronardi, a systems engineer at the Geekdom startup incubator. Her expertise is in three-dimensional programming and modeling, and she has spent the past 12 months compiling data on gait movement to inform the algorithms that drive GaitIQ's Alzheimer's screening system. GaitIQ has been developing its technology for about two years with funding from a U.S. National Institute of Health grant.

A study in JAMA Network Open suggests many older Americans, especially the poorest, are increasingly suffering mental health problems, reports Reuters Health . The authors examined data on 2.4 million Americans 60 and older who participated in annual polls from 2003 to 2017, of whom 41 percent had household income of no more than $35,000 annually and 10 percent lacked a high school education. The average number of days each month when people 60 to 64 experienced poor mental health increased from 2.9 to 3.6 during the study, and rose from 2.3 to three days for those 65 to 69 and from 2.2 to 2.4 days among those 70 to 74. Slippage in mental health was similar for men and women, but higher for people with lower income and education. The average monthly number of poor mental health days rose from 2.9 to 4.1 among those who earned $35,000 or less a year, and from 3.6 to 4.4 when the head of the household did not have a high school diploma. "The greater declines among seniors in lower income and education categories are related to worsening stress, anxiety, and depression among groups in the U.S. that have faced stagnation in wages before retirement, uncertain benefits and income after retirement, continued obstacles to stable housing, and high medical costs as a percentage of income," stated Cambridge Health Alliance's Benjamin Le Cook.

A trend is growing among seniors to extend their "healthspan" — the years that a person can expect to live in generally good health — with brain research backing this up, reports Kaiser Health News . Aging specialists are calling on people to keep mentally and physically active as they get older in order to increase their healthspan. For example, the Acts Retirement Communities offer residents weekly social-based courses for brain fitness and memory training developed by Mount Sinai Professor Cynthia Green. She said these classes are offered at 150 retirement communities around the United States. "The idea is . . . to make people productive, healthier, and happier longer and more capable of taking care of themselves," said University of Texas (UT) at Austin Professor Andreana Haley. She has partnered with UT's Human Laser Lab to trial the use of low-level light therapy to boost brain energy and cognitive performance. Washington University School of Medicine Professor Tim Peterson noted the move toward greater emphasis on healthspan is sensible, given that research demonstrates that people who stay active and exercise their brain "tend to be healthier and have better brain function and will be physically healthier because of the brain-body circuitry."

In Ohio, Lorain County Public Health officials will initiate a new program, dubbed Car Fit, this summer to keep senior drivers safe, reports ABC 5 Cleveland . Car Fit offers a review of how well seniors and their vehicles interact, via a framework developed by AAA, AARP, and the American Occupational Therapy Association. AAA Safety Adviser Lori Cook said it is essential for seniors to feel comfortable with physical limitations behind the wheel. Older drivers may need to find ways to deal with visual impairments, stiff neck or limited head rotation, and less range of motion and flexibility. "We go through a 12-point checklist . . . to give seniors a chance to know what they can fix just on the basics of driving," Cook noted. "It's not that older drivers can't drive and they can't do those skills, it just takes them longer to process the information." County officials will partner with Lorain County Public Health to find volunteers interested in training to become Car Fit experts.

Analysis of traditional Medicare spending and enrollment trends by age group from 2007 to 2015 shows that beneficiary age was not the "main impeller" of low Medicare spending growth, reports the Commonwealth Fund . The slowdown in Medicare per-beneficiary spending mirrors slower spending across all age groups. Furthermore, if the Medicare age distribution had not shifted during this period, the Medicare program would have still undergone lower spending growth. The number of beneficiaries aged 65 to 69 grew more than any other demographic from 2007 to 2015 as baby boomers joined Medicare. During that time span, the size of the traditional Medicare population grew 6.8 percent, from 37.5 million to 40 million. Over 3.3 million beneficiaries 65 to 74 enrolled in Medicare as boomers qualified in large numbers, while the number of beneficiaries 65 to 69 and 70 to 74 climbed by 28.9 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively. However, most older age groups experienced small declines in beneficiary population. Beneficiaries 65 to 69 comprised 23.8 percent of beneficiaries in 2007, which rose to 28.8 percent after baby boomers began joining.

The New York Times observes that, for years, the medical profession has been troubled by a persistent shortage of doctors who treat the oldest and sickest patients. Geriatricians not only monitor and coordinate treatment for the many ailments, disabilities, and medications their senior patients contend with, they also help them determine what is most important for their well-being and quality of life moving forward. But geriatrics became a board-certified medical specialty only in 1988. A 2018 analysis showed that through academic year 2017-18, the number of graduate fellowship programs that train geriatricians — underwritten by Medicare — increased from 182 to 210. That represents practically no growth when adjusted for the nation's rising population. "It's basically stagnation," laments Aldis Petriceks, the study's lead author, who is currently a Harvard University medical student. He further notes that geriatrics is failing to attract enough young doctors to the graduate fellowships it does offer. Setting aside geriatric psychiatry, over 33 percent of the 384 slots went unfilled in 2019, the American Geriatrics Society reports. One issue is pay. Total compensation for geriatricians in 2018 averaged $233,564, reports the Medical Group Management Association. By contrast, anesthesiologists earned twice as much, and radiologists and cardiologists both topped $500,000.

Two Ohio lawmakers have proposed a bill to set up training requirements for first responders on how to identify and engage with people with dementia, reports the News-Herald . Under the legislation, the Ohio Attorney General's Office would consult with the state's Department of Aging to develop a program requiring two hours of training for police and first responder trainees, and one hour for continuing professional training. Rep. Phil Plummer's (R-Ohio) office stated that training would focus on identifying individuals with dementia, including psychiatric and behavioral symptoms; respectful and effective communication with individuals with dementia and their caregivers; methods to address the behavioral symptoms of dementia; identifying and disclosing abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with dementia to the attorney general's office; procedures for contacting caregivers when someone with dementia is found wandering or during an emergency or crisis situation; local resources for those with dementia; and local and national organizations that help peace officers with locating missing and wandering persons with dementia and returning them to caregivers. Plummer is sponsoring the bill with Rep. Thomas West (D-Ohio). "Making sure that our peace officers and first responders are equipped to identify and effectively interact with Ohioans with dementia is crucial," said West. "Our bill would ensure that they receive the necessary training to handle these situations and ensure the safety of our loved ones with this disease."

A newly approved Chinese medication for Alzheimer's will start American and European clinical trials in 2020, reports Bloomberg News . Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceutical intends to enroll some 2,046 participants with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's for trials at 200 sites across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific for 18 months. Oligomannate received conditional approval in China in November, and it went on sale on Dec. 29. Users must take three 15-mg capsules twice daily, and a week's supply costs $128. Skepticism is rife with Green Valley attaining approval for clinical trials so rapidly, and conditional approval requires the drugmaker to conduct further studies on Oligomannate's functionality and long-term safety and effectiveness. Green Valley also plans to invest $3 billion in the next decade on research — including global trials — to understand the drug's working mechanism and expand its use in treating diseases like Parkinson's and vascular dementia. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts suggested a roughly $30 billion American market alone for successful anti-Alzheimer's drugs. Despite Green Valley's ambitions to fast-track the drug for trials, University of Waterloo epidemiologist Mark Oremus said the company's phase III trial was "far too short to evaluate the medium- to long-term effects," and also neglected to compare the drug with other existing medications.

A study in Neurology challenges the theory that beta-amyloid plaques in the brain are the first manifestation of Alzheimer's disease, reports News-Medical . The researchers imply that subtle thinking and memory differences may precede or occur parallel to amyloid plaque accrual, as participants who exhibited these differences had faster amyloid accumulation on brain scans over time. One test that uses a dye to measure amyloid levels, where the average level was 1.16 for participants with subtle thinking and memory difficulties, found levels in that cohort rose by 0.03 above and beyond the levels in those with normal thinking and memory skills over four years. Those cohort members also had faster thinning of the entorhinal cortex, a brain area that is affected very early in Alzheimer's. However, although participants with mild cognitive impairment had more amyloid in their brains at the start of the study, they did not have faster amyloid buildup compared to those with normal thinking and memory skills — but they did exhibit faster thinning of the entorhinal cortex and shrinkage of the hippocampus. "Our study demonstrated a method to successfully detect subtle differences in thinking and memory either before or during the phase when amyloid is accumulating at a faster rate," said VA San Diego Healthcare System's Kelsey R. Thomas. "This could lead to non-invasive screenings that may be able to detect very early who is at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."

A U.S. Census report found Americans are making fewer trips to the doctor, according to Managed Healthcare Executive . The report said in 2010 working-age adults made an average 3.9 visits to medical providers versus 4.8 in 2001. Among Americans with at least one such visit, the average number of visits also shrank from 6.4 to 5.4 from 2001 to 2010. Doctor visits become more likely with age, as 37 percent of adults 18 to 24 did not see a provider during the year compared with 8 percent of those 65 and older. "The U.S. Census Bureau's findings that there has been a decline in the use of medical services is one barometer that . . . engagement initiatives focused on improving outcomes are working," said Maria Perrin with HMS. "For example, healthcare organizations are leveraging . . . engagement technology platforms that prompt healthcare consumers to take part in personalized conversations that motivate them to take action on their health to better manage chronic conditions, schedule wellness visits, receive regular examinations, maintain prescriptions, and take part in other positive health activities."