A US randomized clinical trial showed that for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and high anxiety, escitalopram was safe and effective for reducing anxiety. The trial included 128 outpatients (mean age 64.6 years, 29% women) with stable CHD and a diagnosed anxiety disorder between January 2016 and May 2020. […]
Dr. Markowitz at Columbia University outlined the types of therapies that are proven to work for people with a major trauma. The most common diagnosis and response to trauma is depression. A lot of other people are going to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Other people will develop substance abuse. […]
The International Association for the Study of Pain has proposed a new term, nociplastic pain, to describe a third category of pain that is mechanistically distinct from nociceptive pain, which is caused by ongoing inflammation and damage of tissues, and neuropathic pain, which is caused by nerve damage. The mechanisms […]
A prospective UK cohort study revealed that younger age at diabetes onset was associated with higher risk of subsequent dementia. The study included 10 095 participants (67.3% men; aged 35-55 years in 1985-1988), with a total of 1710 cases of diabetes and 639 cases of dementia recorded over a median follow-up […]
A scientific statement from the American Heart Association revealed that there are good data showing clear associations between psychological health and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and risk, so called the mind-heart-body connection; there is increasing evidence that psychological health may be causally linked to biological, behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms that contribute […]
A prospective cohort study in Britain suggests that participation in leisure activities declines in the preclinical phase of dementia. The study included 8,280 participants (69% male, 91% white, mean age 55.8), participation in leisure activities (1997–99 assessment), with 18.0-year follow-up, was not associated with dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 0.92) but […]
Excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, and air pollution have been added to the 2017 Lancet Commission’s list of nine potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, including less education, hypertension, hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, and low social contact. Together the 12 modifiable risk factors may account […]
A US longitudinal observational cohort study suggests that APOE*2 allele and lower pulse pressure predicts resistance to amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition in advanced aging. Of 100 participants, mean age at last cognitive evaluation was 92.0 years (range 86-100). Mean follow-up time from baseline to last measured Aβ status was 12.3 years […]
A sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial concluded that behavioral therapy (BT) and zolpidem medication produced equivalent response and remission rates for insomnia. Adding a second treatment produced an added value for those whose insomnia failed to remit with initial therapies. The study included 211 adults (132 women; mean age, 45.6 years) […]
A Swedish nationwide cohort study suggests that stress-related disorders may be associated with the subsequent risk of neurodegenerative diseases, possibly through a cerebrovascular pathway. A population-matched cohort included 61 748 individuals who received their first diagnosis of stress-related disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress reaction, adjustment disorder, and other stress reactions) […]