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) […]
A randomized controlled trial in Australia suggested that a low dose metoprolol and aspirin for 6 weeks reduces physiological and psychological surrogate measures of cardiovascular risk in early bereavement. After assessment within 2 weeks of bereavement, spouses (n = 73) or parents (n = 12) of deceased (aged 66.1 ± 9.4 years, 55 females) were randomized […]
An exome sequencing study of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identified 102 risk genes at a false discovery rate of 0.1 or less. The study included 35,584 total samples, 11,986 with ASD, and used an enhanced analytical framework to integrate de novo and case-control rare variation. 49 of the risk genes […]
An US 2nd phase randomized clinical trial revealed that maintenance of antidepressant medication treatment was associated with a reduced risk of depressive recurrence, but previous treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was not. The study included a total of 292 adult outpatients (171 women; mean age, 45.1 years) with chronic […]
A meta-analysis of individual participant data from eligible observational studies suggested that use of any antihypertensive medications (AHM) with efficacy to lower blood pressure (BP) might reduce the risk for dementia among people with high BP. However, no evidence was found that a specific AHM drug class was more effective […]
A prospective longitudinal cohort study in Britain revealed that early adulthood vascular risk is strongly associated with smaller whole-brain volume (WBV) and greater white matter–hyperintensity volume (WMHV) at age 69 to 71 years. The study assessed 502 participants in a birth cohort in 1946. Framingham Heart study–cardiovascular risk scores (FHS-CVS) […]
A meta-analysis and systematic review suggested that optimism is associated with a lower risk of events of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and all-cause mortality. The analysis included 15 studies of 229 391 participants, in which 10 studies reported data on CVD events (including CVD mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and/or new-onset angina) […]