HealthDay (1/25, Mann) reports “older adults who maintain a steady weight as they age are less likely to experience rapid cognitive decline, regardless of how much they weigh to start,” according to research published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Investigators “analyzed data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center on about 16,000 older adults” and found that “after about five years of follow-up, everyone showed some degree of mental decline, but it was more than 60% faster in the group with fluctuating BMIs compared to those whose BMI stayed stable.”

Related Links:

— “Keeping Weight Stable Could Help Save Your Brain “Denise Mann, HealthDay, January 25, 2022

MedPage Today (1/25, Grant) reports, “Many first-year residents felt their new depressive symptoms were getting in the way of their functionality,” investigators concluded in “a cohort study of 15,566 medical interns.” The study revealed “a significant increase in average depression scores relating to clinical impairment – such as difficulty performing social, occupation, and other important tasks.” The findings were published online Jan. 25 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Bloomberg Law (1/25, Hansard, Subscription Publication) reports, “Health plans and insurers are failing to deliver parity in mental health coverage as required by law,” according to the 2022 Report to Congress on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (PDF) issued on Jan. 25 by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury.

According to Fierce Healthcare (1/25, Minemyer), the report also “highlights one of the feds’ largest enforcement activities to date on mental health parity: a $15.6 million settlement with UnitedHealthcare.” That insurer “would routinely lower reimbursement rates for out-of-network behavioral health services and would flag members with behavioral health needs for utilization reviews.” Included in the August 2021 settlement were “$13.6 million in wrongfully denied claims and $2 million in lawyer fees and penalties.”

Related Links:

— “Insurers Falling Down on Mental Health Parity, Agencies Say (1) “Sara Hansard, Bloomberg Law, January 25, 2022

MedPage Today (1/24, George) reports, “Stroke recurrence and severity raised the risk of dementia, data from the prospective Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study showed.” Researchers found that “incident dementia rates were especially elevated in people with multiple strokes over time and with more severe strokes, suggesting a dose-response relationship between stroke severity and recurrence and risk of dementia.” The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

PatientEngagementHIT (1/24, Heath) reports, “Adults over age 65 in the US have more cost-related mental healthcare access challenges than seniors in other similarly developed nations, according to a recent assessment from the Commonwealth Fund,” and older people in the US “are significantly more likely to have to forgo mental healthcare access because they can’t afford it.” This is despite the fact that “health payer coverage under Medicare promises at least some degree of mental health coverage, the report pointed out.”

Related Links:

— “US Mental Healthcare Access Trails Other Nations’ Due to Cost “Sara Heath, Patient Engagement HIT, January 24, 2022