MedPage Today (11/12, Phend) reports, “Intensive blood pressure control reduced dementia risk among individuals with hypertension, a randomized trial from rural China showed.” The research, presented at AHA Scientific Sessions 2023, showed that “a village doctor-led intervention with a simple stepped-care protocol targeting a blood pressure under 130/80 mm Hg reduced occurrence of any dementia by a relative 15% compared with usual care over 4 years.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

TCTMD (11/10, Maxwell) reported, “Atrial fibrillation (AF) is not only linked to an increased likelihood of developing dementia, but this risk increases in people who see their AF symptoms start at a younger age, according to…prospective data.” An “analysis of patients with AF showed that younger age of onset was directly related to a higher risk of developing all-cause dementia,” Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Younger Age at AF Onset Linked to Greater Dementia Risk,”Yael L. Maxwell, TCTMD , November 10, 2023

The Washington Post (11/11, Stillman) reported, “Record warmth made this past week feel like early fall or even late summer across much of the nation, yet winter has already started – ‘solar winter,’ that is.” This “marks the beginning of the darkest – and, for some people, the most depressing ‘‘ stretch of the year. Solar winter is defined as the quarter of the calendar year with the least amount of daylight.” This period “is most closely aligned with the typical onset of winter seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Those who suffer from SAD – about 5 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to the American Psychiatric Association – experience depression linked to reduced daylight. SAD can last up to five months, well beyond the end of solar winter.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (11/9, Ghorayshi) reports physicians “and patients have long known that antidepressants can cause sexual problems,” but now “a small but vocal group of patients is speaking out about severe sexual problems that have endured even long after they stopped taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most popular type of antidepressants.” When patients report such issues – “like the distinctive symptom of genital numbness – the signal should not be dismissed, said” American Psychiatric Association Council on Research Chair Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD. Dr. Alpert points to similar side effects experienced by patients who have taken the hair loss drug finasteride or acne medication isotretinoin. These “may point to a common biological mechanism, Dr. Alpert said.”

The New York Times (11/9, Ghorayshi) reports in a second article that when the “S.S.R.I.s went on the market in the late 1980s, patients began telling their psychiatrists that they were having sexual problems.” Dr. Jonathan Alpert said, “Only in going back and looking more carefully and gathering more data did we realize that actually those serotonergic drugs, the older ones, also caused sexual dysfunction.” Still, “in many cases, the problems caused by the medications can be managed.” For instance, “adding the non-S.S.R.I. antidepressant Wellbutrin, which acts on norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain, has been shown to diminish sexual symptoms in many patients, Dr. Alpert said.”

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Endocrinology Advisor (11/9, Kurek) reports, “Antidiabetic medications such as metformin and glucagon-like peptide-1…receptor agonists are associated with reduced risk for dementia, according to” a study. The research was published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

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— “Antidiabetic Medications Reduce Dementia Risk,”Ellen Kurek, Endocrinology Advisor , November 9, 2023