Reuters (4/11, Rapaport) reports, “Middle-aged people with risk factors for heart attacks and stroke are also more likely to develop changes in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers concluded after examining “data from 346 adults who had been evaluated for vascular risk factors since the late 1980s, when they were 52 years old on average and none of them had dementia.” Then, more than 20 years “later, when participants were around 76 years old, they had brain scans that looked for evidence of Alzheimer’s” in the form of amyloid plaques.

According to MedPage Today (4/11, Fiore), “unlike midlife vascular risk factors, late-life vascular risk factors were not associated with brain amyloid deposition on late-life PET scans,” the findings revealed. The study, which was “supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,” was published April 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Related Links:

— “Risk factors for heart disease and stroke also tied to Alzheimer’s,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 11, 2017.

MD Magazine (4/10, Colwell) reports, “A Mediterranean-style diet has the potential to treat major depression,” researchers found in a randomized 67-participant study, the findings of which were published Jan. 30 in BMC Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Mediterranean Diet Shows Benefit for Depression,” Carolyn Colwell, MD Magazine, April 10, 2017.

Medscape (4/10, Melville) reports, “Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in middle-aged women is linked with significant cognitive impairment, with the effect stronger in those with comorbid depression,” researchers found after evaluating “data on 14,029 women from the Nurses’ Health Study II.” The findings were presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference 2017.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/10, Preidt) reports, “Having a mental health disorder doesn’t mean a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease later” in life, researchers found after examining “long-term data from nearly 60,000 people in Finland with and without Alzheimer’s disease.” The findings were published online April 4 in European Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Past Psychiatric Ills Don’t Raise Alzheimer’s Risk: Study
,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 10, 2017.

Kevin Breel didn’t look like a depressed kid: team captain, at every party, funny and confident. But he tells the story of the night he realized that — to save his own life — he needed to say four simple words. This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxKids@Ambleside, an independent event. (See “Continue reading…” to view video.)
Continue reading→