Seniors/Aging News

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Participation in an at-home physical activity program can modestly improve cognition in older adults with memory problems, but who do not have dementia, new research shows.

FRIDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers are challenging the widely held belief that flu shots help protect older people from potentially deadly diseases such as pneumonia.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While influenza vaccination does provide protection against catching the flu, it does not have a major impact on death in the elderly, contrary to what some studies have suggested, a new study suggests.

THURSDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- A group of researchers has described hourly changes in a protein in the brain that is thought to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease.

THURSDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- A new study says that 13 percent of American seniors suffer mistreatment from various forms of abuse.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Levels of a protein linked with Alzheimer's disease rise as people recover from brain injuries - a surprising finding that may help explain why injuries boost the risk of developing the disease, U.S. and Italian researchers said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Scientists for the first time have peered into people's brains to directly measure the ebb and flow of a substance notorious for its role in Alzheimer's disease.

WASHINGTON - What does a company do when there's anecdotal evidence that two of its drugs are equally effective in treating a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, one costing patients $60 per treatment and the other $2,000?

MONDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Safety warnings slowed the use of antipsychotic drugs in seniors with dementia. But the overall use of the drugs in the elderly increased, a finding which suggests that warnings may not be sufficient to protect patients, Canadian researchers say.

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- A new method of identifying protein structures related to Alzheimer's disease has been developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Electrical stimulation of the brain may improve memory and recognition in elderly people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, results of a study hint.

THURSDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- In 2007, about 3.4 million Americans enrolled in the Medicare Part D drug plan reached a gap in their prescription coverage known as the "doughnut hole," leading some of them to stop taking prescribed drugs, says a Kaiser Family Foundation study released Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Many people in Medicare with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions stop taking their medicine when faced with picking up the entire cost of their prescriptions, researchers say.

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A U.S. Medicare advisory panel on Wednesday expressed doubts that industry-sponsored data on the use of PET scans to diagnose and evaluate nine cancers could apply more widely to other cancers.

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - The medical imaging industry called for the Medicare government health plan to broaden its coverage of PET scans to additional cancer types, asking an advisory panel on Wednesday to recommend wider payments.

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A majority of seniors who visit the Medicare Web site find getting the information they need a frustrating experience, University of Miami researchers report.

THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- The average monthly premium for Medicare's prescription drug plan will increase to an estimated $28 in 2009, three dollars more than this year's monthly premium, Medicare officials announced Thursday.

FRIDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Older patients and surgeons don't communicate effectively when discussing surgical treatment options, even though the decision to have surgery can be particularly difficult and confusing for seniors, says an Indiana University School of Medicine study.

THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- When elderly patients complain they have a lack of energy, doctors shouldn't dismiss it as a normal part of aging, say researchers who found that lack of energy (anergia) is associated with several health problems and higher rates of hospitalization and death.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Physical frailty among the elderly may be linked to early Alzheimer's disease, regardless of whether or not patients develop dementia, new research reveals.

TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- PET scans may provide doctors with a non-invasive method of detecting Alzheimer's disease-related brain plaques, Finnish researchers say.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A method of medical imaging known as PET scans may allow doctors to develop a non-invasive test for Alzheimer's by spotting abnormal brain "plaques" associated with the disease, Finnish researchers report in a new study.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older people considering major orthopedic surgery only bring up about half of their concerns when they meet with their surgeon to discuss the operation, a new study shows.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An imaging method known as a PET scan may enable doctors to determine whether a person has "plaques" in the brain that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, according to a Finnish study published on Monday.

SUNDAY, Aug. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Because aging affects the body's ability to respond to summer heat, older adults are particularly at risk for heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke, heat fatigue, heat cramps and heat exhaustion, according to the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA).

FRIDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A protein produced by fat cells may play a pivotal role in increasing an older American's risk for a heart attack even if they are losing weight, a new report says.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US scientists have cultivated a new line of stem cells that reproduce the genetic defects responsible for 10 incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease, a study said.