Reuters (4/9, Rapaport) reports that research suggests patients “with Parkinson’s disease may have less anxiety and depression when they practice yoga focused on mindfulness and breathing exercises.” The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Yoga may help ease mood disorders in Parkinson’s patients, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 9, 2019

In a nearly 4,000-word piece, Kaiser Health News (4/9, Bailey, Aleccia) reports that as suicide rates rise across the US, “such deaths among older adults – including the 2.2 million who live in long-term care settings – are often overlooked.” The piece says “a KHN analysis of new data from the University of Michigan suggests that hundreds of suicides by older adults each year – nearly one per day – are related to long-term care.” The piece also states, “Thousands more people may be at risk in those settings, where up to a third of residents report suicidal thoughts, research shows.”

PBS NewsHour (4/9, Wise, Carlson, Nagy) provides the transcript of a recent program reporting in partnership with Kaiser Health News on the risks of suicide among senior citizens. The program featured Julie Rickard, a psychologist at a crisis stabilization center in Wenatchee, Washington, who said that with regard to treatment in long-term care, it is important to consider what professionals are “doing on the backside to make sure that the person is transitioning well when they are going into long-term care, that we are doing the things to support them and stay connected.”

Related Links:

— “Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide , “Melissa Bailey and JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News, April 9, 2019

Reuters (4/8, Rapaport) reports that research suggests that “it’s possible that as many as one in 13 boys in the U.S. have sex before reaching their teens,” but “the chance that they will do this varies widely depending on where they live.” Investigators looked at data from two surveys and found that “overall, 7.6 percent of high school students in the first survey and 3.6 percent of participants in the second survey reported having sex for the first time before age 13.” The study also found that “across cities nationwide, the proportion of boys who reported having sex before age 13 ranged from as small as one in 20 in San Francisco to as large as one in four in Memphis, Tennessee.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Up to 1 in 13 boys in U.S. have sex before adolescence, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 8, 2019

The New York Times (4/8, Kolata) reports that even though nearly all elderly patients with dementia “are given a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, nearly every one of them has a mixture of brain abnormalities.” For scientists seeking treatments, “these so-called mixed pathologies have become a huge scientific problem,” research published last year in the journal BRAIN found. Investigators “can’t tell which of these conditions is the culprit in memory loss in a particular patient, or whether all of them together are to blame.”

Related Links:

— “The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer’s. But That’s Probably Not the Only Problem, “Gina Kolata, The New York Times, April 8, 2019

Reuters (4/4, Kelland) reports that “blood pressure and stroke risk rise steadily the more alcohol people drink, and previous claims that one or two drinks a day might protect against stroke are not true, according to the results of a major genetic study” published in The Lancet. The study “found that people who drink moderately – consuming 10 to 20 grams of alcohol a day – raise their risk of stroke by 10 to 15 percent.” For heavy drinkers, who consume “four or more drinks a day, blood pressure rises significantly and the risk of stroke increases by around 35 percent, the study found.”
The AP (4/4, Cheng) reports that researchers “weren’t able to figure out, though, whether small amounts of alcohol might also increase the chances of a heart attack.”

Related Links:

— “Major study debunks myth that moderate drinking can be healthy, “Kate Kelland, Reuters, April 4, 2019