The Boston Globe (4/7, Lazar) reported, “Violence is uncommon among people suffering from dementia, and acts of extreme violence are rarer still,” according to experts “stunned by allegations that a Shrewsbury [MA] man stricken with the condition had brutally slain his wife.” The piece pointed out, however, that “statistics on the frequency of violence by dementia patients are hard to find. One small 1992 study by University of Illinois researchers found that roughly 16 percent of Alzheimer’s patients had been violent toward a family member who cared for them in the year since their diagnosis. The violence was defined as hitting, kicking, biting, punching, or threats with a weapon.”

Studies Underscore Stress Of Caregiving For Patients With Dementia. In a lengthy article, the Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel (4/8, Nelson) reported, “More than 400,000 Tennesseans are caregivers for patients with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia.” The caregiving comes with a steep cost. “Study after study highlights the stress of caregiving for someone with Alzheimer’s. In one report, more than 60 percent of dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as ‘high’ or ‘very high.’ A third of caregivers said they had experienced symptoms of depression.” One study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of the National Caregivers Alliance, found an association between a person’s Alzheimer’s progression with a decline in health of the caregiver.

Related Links:

— “Extreme violence by dementia patients is rare,”Kay Lazar, Boston.com, April 7, 2012.

MedPage Today (4/6, Walsh) reports, “Patients with psychiatric disorders and those with chronic pain used a disproportionally high amount of healthcare resources because of frequent hospital readmission, a researcher said” at the Society of Hospital Medicine meeting. “In a chart review of 29 patients who had an index admission during 2011 and six or more readmissions,” researchers found that “55% had psychiatric conditions and 52% had chronic pain.” The investigators reported that “other common diagnoses included pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage renal disease, and persistent vomiting.”

Related Links:

— “Study IDs Hospital Frequent Flyers,”Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today, April 5, 2012.

The Time (4/6, Szalavitz) “Healthland” blog reports that Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has argued that there are similarities between overeating and drug addiction, and that examining those similarities could help to better understand all types of compulsive behavior. Although not all health professionals agree that food is an addictive substance in the way that a drug is, some experts, such as Volkow, contend that there are “common dysfunctions in the areas of the brain involved in pleasure and self-control that are seen in both food and drug addictions. These systems rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine; in both drug addictions and obesity, reductions in the number of dopamine D2 receptors are common.”

Related Links:

— “Can Food Really Be Addictive? Yes, Says National Drug Expert,”Maia Szalavitz , TIME Healthland, April 5 , 2012.

HealthDay (4/6, Preidt) reports, “Seniors with psychological distress such as depression or anxiety are more likely to have physical disabilities,” according to a study published April 5 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. After examining “data from nearly 100,000 Australian men and women, aged 65 and older,” researchers found that, “the risk of physical disability was more than four times higher among those with any level of psychological distress and nearly seven times higher among those with moderate levels.” Notably, those seniors who displayed greater levels of regular physical activity were not as likely to be physically disabled.

Related Links:

— “Depression, Anxiety Tied to Physical Disabilities in Seniors,”Robert Preidt, Healthday, April 5, 2012.

HealthDay (4/5, Dotinga) reports that two studies published online April 4 in the journal Neurology offer “insights into the mysterious phenomenon of rapid cognitive decline in the two or three years before death, and [confirm] that intellectually challenging activities can help keep your mind sharp.” The first study “suggests that while Alzheimer’s disease may nudge the mental decline early on, other causes seem to be at play when the decline speeds up in the years just before death.” HealthDay adds, “Can people do anything to prevent the mind from declining in old age? A second study suggests that’s a possibility — through activities such as reading, playing board games, and doing crossword puzzles.”

An accompanying editorial observed, “The research on declining mental abilities represents an important advance in the science of aging,” MedPage Today (4/5, Smith) reports. The editorial argued that “the controversial issue of de-differentiation’ may hold clues to the biology of aging and is thus ‘an important research topic whose study deepens our understanding of both disease-based and normal biological aging.’

Related Links:

— “Brain Falters Near End of Life, but Games, Puzzles Might Slow Decline,”Randy Dotinga , HealthDay, April 4, 2012.