A study published in JAMA Neurology found older women with normal cognition had higher tau measures in the entorhinal cortex than men, suggesting women have a higher risk of developing symptoms of the disorder, reports the National Institute on Aging . The team analyzed positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans from two studies containing 296 older adults, including 173 women. All subjects exhibited normal cognitive function when they first received a brain scan to measure tau, and also underwent PET scans to measure beta-amyloid. Researchers think people with higher beta-amyloid concentrations also have more tau, and these proteins interact early in Alzheimer's progression. In comparison with the men's scans, the women's scans showed significantly higher tau deposits in the entorhinal cortex in individuals with high beta-amyloid levels. There were neither strong male-female differences in beta-amyloid levels alone, nor evidence that APOE E4, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's, interacts with gender to influence tau.

A study published in Nature demonstrated that older adults had more difficulty recalling a list of words after a long-term habit of watching TV for more than 3.5 hours daily, reports Medical Daily . The researchers analyzed data on 3,662 adults 50 and older from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. They focused on baseline TV viewing between 2008 and 2009 and the subjects' cognition six years after the study began. The older subjects who watched more than 3.5 hours of TV every day appeared to be at a higher risk of decline in verbal memory, while exceeding this daily threshold worsened verbal memory. Yet the researchers did not find a direct association between long-term TV exposure and cognitive decline. They noted TV might cause mental stress that potentially contributed to memory loss. "Despite it having been hypothesized for over 25 years that watching excessive television can contribute to the development of dementia, this theory still remains underexplored empirically," the researchers concluded.

Democratic support for Medicare for All is flagging as voters worry about its costs and impact on private and employer health coverage, reports the Wall Street Journal . "At the slogan level, it makes a lot of sense," acknowledges Lara Brown with George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. "As people start putting together a plan, and people hear about it, it's disconcerting." Research calculated that the proposal would top $30 trillion over 10 years, while advocates promise it would eventually reduce overall U.S. healthcare expenditures. Republicans, insurers, and other industry players counter that the program would terminate employer coverage now received by about 155 million employees. A Morning Consult/Politico survey of 1,991 voters found net support for a single-payer health system among all registered voters slipped from about 30 percent in November 2018 to 12 percent in February. Health analysts and political-science researchers noted support has softened as people learn more details of Medicare for All, especially when they realize their own individual coverage would end. Other studies also saw declining support as respondents learned it would raise taxes.

An Axios survey estimated that people 65 and older are more likely to read online privacy policies before accepting them, with 15 percent in this demographic "always" accepting a privacy policy before reading, versus 46 percent of people 18 to 25, reports MarketWatch . Older adults also are more likely than younger adults to stress the importance of understanding these policies. "Consumers are increasingly aware that companies share and sell their personal data in exchange for free services, but consumers' privacy concerns aren't translating into concrete action to protect their data," the study said. One possible factor is that older adults have longer attention spans than their younger counterparts because they did not grow up with social media, sound bites, or smartphones. Baby boomers and older Americans seem more like to go to the trouble of reading privacy policies through before accepting them. A separate OpenVPN study found older populations were more likely to use higher levels of security, with about 65 percent of baby boomers more likely to use biometric passwords, compared to 40 percent of millennials.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reported that suspicions of financial fraud against seniors filed with the Treasury Department in 2017 were up 19 percent from the previous year, according to the Wall Street Journal . The report calculated that the corresponding financial damage totaled $1.7 billion, with seniors losing an average $34,200 when incurring a monetary loss. Losses topped $100,000 in 7 percent of cases. The bulk of the 2017 reports, 58 percent, were filed by money-transfer service providers, while 35 percent came from banks and other depository institutions and 7 percent were filed by brokerage firms and similar businesses. The CFPB suggested 2017's filings may constitute less than 2 percent of actual incidents. "Money services businesses could prevent more losses by blocking money transfers to people who previously aroused suspicion, providing conspicuous warnings about current scams on money transfer forms, and thoroughly training all agents," the bureau concluded.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found older adults with advanced kidney disease who want to skip dialysis often encounter resistance from physicians, reports Kaiser Health News . The researchers reviewed medical charts of 851 older adults with chronic kidney disease who refused dialysis at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle from 2000 to 2011. Physicians often made speculations that subjects were incompetent, depressed, suicidal, or irrational. They often labeled people expressing reservations about dialysis as difficult or unprepared to cope with the reality of their disease, even when they firmly declined the procedure. "Clinical practice guidelines for advanced kidney disease are geared toward survival, not what would give beneficiaries the best quality of life or the greatest functional capacity," said University of Washington Professor Susan Wong. Discussions about the potential benefits and hardships of dialysis, as well as alternatives, are especially important for frail persons 75 and up who have multiple chronic conditions and difficulty with daily activities such as bathing or walking. "We shouldn't limit access to dialysis based on age, but we should have meaningful conversations about goals of care and make it clear that dialysis is a choice and that people have alternatives," suggested Mayo Clinic Professor Bjorg Thorsteinsdottir.

A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found a sudden increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) among older adults, brought on by psychosocial and post-traumatic stress as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, reports Healio . The investigators analyzed CVD hospitalization records of Louisianans at least 65 years old between 2005 and 2006 from a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid database. Data between African-American and white adults in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, and East Baton Rouge before and after the storm was assessed. Hospitalizations in the Orleans Parish increased on the sixth day after landfall, from 7.25 to 18.5 cases daily per 10,000 adults aged at least 65. Within about two months, CVD rates in older adults reverted to normal levels. Meanwhile, racial disparities in CVD rates rose a week after landfall, to 26.3 plus or minus 23.7 cases per day per 10,000 African-American adults aged 65, and 16.6 plus or minus 11.7 cases per day per 10,000 white adults aged 65. The researchers argued resource allocation and access disparities must be resolved in disaster preparation and mitigation. "Considering the staggering economic and health impacts of such disasters, lessons from the past hurricanes, including the Katrina experience, should inform future health management decisions," they concluded.

United Income's new Medicare Advice free personalized shopping service and the free What's Covered mobile app from Medicare could help make shopping for a policy easier, reports Next Avenue . The United Income service requires users to answer an online questionnaire about their healthcare preferences and needs, then offers the most appropriate coverage suggestions. United Income will not recommend a particular health insurer's Medicare Advantage or Medigap policy. "We wanted to provide Medicare advice that's part of a financial plan," says United Income's Andrew Vincent. Medicare's What's Covered app is available on Apple's App Store and on Google Play, with the goal of telling shoppers whether Medicare Part A or Part B would cover their medical test or service, as well as basic cost information. "We've seen over the last couple of years an increase in mobile usage, so we thought the What's Covered app would be a good opportunity to address what people are looking for on the Medicare.gov site," notes Jon Booth with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. However, What's Covered will not help users determine whether a treatment or procedure is covered by Medicare Advantage plans, as their coverage differs significantly. "This is primarily targeted to people with original Medicare and maybe Medicare Part D (the prescription drug plan) and their caregivers," Booth says.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should take action to help African-Americans in its mission to implement the principles of the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer's (BOLD) Act, reports University of Southern California Professor Karen D. Lincoln in Stat . The act authorizes $100 million over five years and instructs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish public health infrastructure to fight Alzheimer's, which disproportionately affects African-Americans. A portion of BOLD funding will be channeled into public and nonprofit private entities like state, tribal, and local health departments, as well as to associations and universities, under cooperative service agreements. These agreements mandate that funding recipients set up or support regional centers to address Alzheimer's and related dementias. The HHS secretary is allowed to "give preference to applications that focus on addressing health disparities, including populations and geographic areas that have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias," as part of these agreements. "The HHS secretary has an opportunity to fulfill the BOLD Act's promise by doing something Congress didn't do — mandate that representatives from underserved communities be part of the decision-making process," Lincoln notes. "People from small human service agencies, churches, community health coalitions, and community organizations must be involved in deciding how Alzheimer's funds are allocated."

A study published in Science Advances revealed that deep sleep helps the brain clear out potentially toxic beta amyloid plaques, and possibly curb the progression of Alzheimer's, reports Discover . The researchers drugged mice into deep sleep, then tracked cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as it flowed into the brain via electroencephalograph, recording blood pressure and heart and respiratory rates. Mice drugged with a combination of ketamine and xylazine exhibited the strongest deep sleep brain waves, which predicted CSF flow into the brain. The implication is that the glymphatic system is more active during the deepest sleep. Vital-sign analysis determined these mice also had the lowest heart rates. "Understanding how sleep can improve clearance of amyloid could have major impact on dementia treatment," suggested the University of Rochester Medical Center's Maiken Nedergaard.