NBC News (7/16, Fox) reports that despite the many warnings that “Obamacare was going to create a crush of pent-up medical demand,” a new study shows that visits to physicians actually “appear to be down slightly over 2013.” A research team at Athenahealth found that “Most specialty types did not see higher new patient visit rates for the first five months of 2014 than they did in the same period in 2013. Indeed, with the exception of pediatrics, all specialties are seeing lower new patient visit rates in 2014 compared to 2013.”

Related Links:

— “The Obamacare Surge? No Sign of Pent-Up Doctor Demand Yet,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, July 15, 2014.

The AP (7/16, Marchione) reports that the dementia rate “is falling in the United States and some other rich countries.” What’s more, the onset of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, appears to be happening later in life. Investigators came to both conclusions after analyzing data from the “federally funded Framingham study” that “tracked new dementia cases among several thousand people 60 and older in five-year periods starting in 1978, 1989, 1996 and 2006.”

Dallas Anderson, chief of epidemiology at the National Institute on Aging, said, “For those who get the disease, it may come later in life, which is a good thing.”

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— “,” Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press, July 15, 2014.

HealthDay (7/15, Doheny) reports that research presented at an international meeting of the Alzheimer’s Association suggests that “for certain seniors, widowhood may…delay dementia.” The study started with approximately “3,800 married men and women starting to show some brain decline.” Investigators found that participants “who were widowed progressed to dementia at age 92 roughly, while those who didn’t lose a spouse were demented by age 83 – nearly a 10-year difference.”

Related Links:

— “Widowhood May Delay Dementia in Some Seniors, Study Finds,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, July 14, 2014.

In continuing coverage, the New York Times (7/2, Reynolds) “Well” blog reports that according to a study (7/2) published in the May issue of the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, “exercise may help to keep the brain robust in people who have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.” For the study, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic “recruited almost 100 older men and women, aged 65 to 89, many of whom had a family history of Alzheimer’s disease.”

All participants underwent brain scans before and after the study. Researchers found that “the brains of physically active volunteers at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease looked just like the brains of people at much lower risk for the disease.”

Related Links:

— “Can Exercise Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk?,” Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times, July 2, 2014.

HealthDay (7/10, Preidt) reports that according to a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, “muscle, bone and joint injuries, as well as mental health disorders, are the main reasons why US soldiers who served in Iraq left the military.” For the study, investigators tracked some “4,100 Army soldiers, aged 18 to 52, from the start of a 15-month deployment in Iraq in 2006 until the end of four years after their return to the” US.

Researchers found that “among those who were unable to return to a military career after the deployment, 60 percent had muscle, bone or joint injuries and nearly half had mental health conditions.” The most common conditions cited for leaving included traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and low back pain.

Related Links:

— “Muscle and Bone Injuries, Mental Disorders Plagued U.S. Iraq War Vets,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 9, 2014.