A randomized controlled trial from Norway published in the British Medical Journal found exercise intensity appears to make no difference to mortality risk among older adults, reports Medical Xpress . The investigators assessed the effect of five years of supervised exercise training compared with recommendations for physical activity on mortality in adults 70 to 77 years old. The trial included 1,567 participants (790 women and 777 men), average age 73. A total of 87.5 percent of participants reported overall good health and 80 percent reported a medium or high level of physical activity at the outset. Four hundred participants were assigned to two weekly sessions of high intensity interval training (HIIT), 387 were assigned moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), and 780 controls followed the Norwegian guidelines for physical activity, all for five years. Overall mortality rate was 4.6 percent at the end of those five years, and the researchers observed no difference in all cause mortality between the controls and combined HIIT and MICT cohort. No differences in cardiovascular disease or cancer were noted between the control group and the combined HIIT and MICT group. "This study suggests that combined MICT and HIIT has no effect on all cause mortality compared with recommended physical activity levels," the researchers concluded.

A study from Colorado State University (CSU) published in Psychology and Aging suggests that some sedentary behavior among older adults is not entirely bad, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers looked at the association between sensor-measured physical activity and cognitive performance in a sample of 228 healthy older adults 60 to 80 years old. As expected, those who engaged in more moderate-to-vigorous activity had better speed, memory, and reasoning abilities — yet adults who spent more time sedentary performed better on vocabulary and reasoning. The authors measured daily physical activity with scientifically validated sensors that are more accurate than average, consumer-based activity trackers. They also used a broad assessment that tested 16 cognitive tasks, as well as measured and controlled for socioeconomic and health factors like employment status, income level, aerobic fitness, blood pressure, and mobility problems. While "fluid" abilities such as speed and memory, problem solving, and reasoning skills, tend to decline throughout adulthood, study participants engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity did better on these tasks. "There's this big push within health and wellness that sitting is always bad for your body . . . and although our earlier studies indicated that the brains of those who spend more time sitting may age faster, it seems that on the cognitive level, sitting time may also be meaningful," concluded CSU Professor Aga Burzynska.

A study published in Sleep confirms associations between obstructive sleep apnea and Alzheimer's disease, reports Medical News Today . Postmortem analysis of brain samples revealed that the severity of the disease correlates with reductions in the volume of the hippocampus. Amyloid plaques initially manifest in the same locations and spread in the same way in the brains of people with sleep apnea as they do in those with Alzheimer's. "It's an important advance in our understanding of the links between these conditions and opens up new directions for researchers striving to develop therapies for treating and hopefully preventing Alzheimer's disease," said RMIT University Professor Stephen Robinson. Sleep apnea did not correlate as well with the number of neurofibrillary tangles in subjects' hippocampus, and no significant correlation was observed after adjusting for age. "In cases of mild sleep apnea, we could only find plaques and tangles in the cortical area near the hippocampus, precisely where they are first found in Alzheimer's disease," Robinson noted. The investigators suggest that in sleep apnea, repeated bouts of oxygen deprivation during sleep may trigger oxidative stress that leads to the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the hippocampus.

A five-year study in the British Medical Journal by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found a twice-weekly regimen of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improved fitness and overall well-being in people over 70, reports Good News Network . Participants were randomly assigned to three different training groups: HIIT, moderate intensity, and exercise according to Norwegian health authorities' recommendations. "Both physical and mental quality of life were better in the high-intensity group after five years than in the other two groups," said Norwegian University Professor Dorthe Stensvold. "High-intensity interval training also had the greatest positive effect on fitness." The researchers also learned that age has the least effect on fitness level for people who exercise regularly at high intensity. The HIIT group had a drop in fitness of 5 percent over a decade, while fitness levels dropped by 9 percent for individuals who exercised regularly but not at high intensity. Meanwhile, physically inactive subjects lost as much as 16 percent of their physical conditioning over 10 years.

With COVID cases rising across the United States, seniors are reluctant to seek help in person. Consequently, more Medicare open enrollees are expected to go online for assistance, reports CNBC News . Humana said it will offer socially distanced, in-person appointments with agents, "based on the guidance of local health officials," while UnitedHealth Group is transitioning enrollment to an online format. "We hold a lot of community meetings across the country during open enrollment . . . (but) we're expecting to do many more of those in a virtual setting," said UnitedHealthcare Medicare and Retirement plans CEO Tim Noel. Online health insurance brokerages are anticipating a boom in demand for phone consultations when Medicare open enrollment begins soon. They have been expanding their staff over the summer, moving agents from call centers to home-based systems, as well as revamping their websites. "We're going to try to leverage technology as much as possible to the process to make things more efficient . . . with things like voice signatures for people completing an application, and DocuSign capability in multiple languages that allow our brokers to complete sales without having to interact in a face-to-face environment," said GoHealth CEO Clint Jones. Finally, eHealth is rolling out a new customer center where Medicare enrollees can organize a secure permanent profile with data about their current health plan, doctors, and medications to help make comparing new plan options easier.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and the UMass Center for Microbiome Research in Worcester are investigating bacteria in the gut for possible linkage with Alzheimer's disease, reports WCVB . A team led by UMass Professor John Haran has just received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging to explore the gut microbiome's effect on cognitive function. Haran said 70 percent of the immune system resides in the gut. His team reported last year that people diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia have certain gut microbiomes that fuel inflammation in common. "If the inflammation is being driven from the microbiome, there's two things that could happen," Haran noted. "One, it could be preventative, to not have the inflammation happens in the first place. Second, if that inflammation is kind of cured or quieted down, the immune system would have time to then to recover back." The Center for Microbiome Research is enlisting Worcester-area seniors, both with an Alzheimer's diagnosis and without, as study participants.

KFF says a recent tracking survey found 46 percent of older U.S. adults (65 and up) in July said that worry and stress related to coronavirus has negatively impacted their mental health, up from 31 percent in May. Earlier research found the population of adults reporting anxiety or depression has risen since the start of the pandemic, with 40 percent of adults 18 and older reporting symptoms in July. Yet the effect of the pandemic on the mental health of older adults is critical, particularly because of the higher rates of social isolation, loneliness, and grief that they may face. Extensive research has noted the link between loneliness and increased risk of premature death, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and suicide among older adults. Generally, one in four (24 percent) adults 65 and older reported anxiety or depression in August, a rate which has been relatively level since the pandemic began in March. This rate is higher than the 11 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who reported depression or anxiety in 2018, but the latest analysis found older adults reported anxiety or depression in August at a lower rate than younger adults under 65. Rates of anxiety or depression among older adults in August were higher among those who are female, Hispanic, low income, in relatively poor health, who live alone, or who have suffered recent loss of employment income in their household.

The Waltonwood Cotswold senior living community in Charlotte, N.C., has teamed with Wayne State University to offer a program in which college students and older adults connect as virtual pen pals via Zoom, reports the Charlotte Weekly . Associates help residents log onto the platform for their weekly or bi-weekly calls with Michigan students. Donna MacDonald with Wayne State's Institute of Gerontology said student participants are enrolled in higher-level Aging and the Life Course, and she wants to see the program incorporated into the curriculum. The program lets students learn more about seniors while allowing seniors to socialize, which can benefit their physical and mental well-being. "The Zoom calls have become a favorite activity, and it warms our hearts to see the positive interactions between the seniors and students," said Waltonwood Cotswold life enrichment manager Logan Diard. "We are always looking for unique and entertaining ways to keep residents engaged."

The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art recently received a two-year, $222,327 federal grant to expand the cost-free Senior Living Communities Program that connects older adults across Iowa with arts programming and activities, reports the Iowa City Press-Citizen . The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the program's virtualization, with one of first virtual programs focusing on Iowa painter Grant Wood, known for his "American Gothic" painting. The federal funding will help the program continue to expand its arts offerings virtually, with the aim of making an online archive of interactive video presentations and other activities that can be shared with a wide audience. One of the program's beneficiaries is the Melrose Meadows Retirement Community in Iowa City. Wellness Coordinator April Marvin said future virtual programming will be helpful for the community's 87 residents, especially as the weather turns colder and activities go indoors. The program is receiving the funds under the CARES Act's Grants for Museums and Libraries.

A study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found general anesthesia does not affect cognitive function in older adults, reports the Health Mania . Researchers analyzed data from 7,499 patients, minimum age 66, who went under for surgery between 2007 and 2011. Checks of follow-up medical records indicated no connection between dementia and general anesthesia, and those given regional anesthesia had similar outcomes. These findings suggest the choice of anesthetic on older patients for any elective surgeries does not elevate their vulnerability to dementia, Alzheimer's, or any related disease as they age.