Alzheimer’s Association Invites Providers to Add Profiles for Launch of the First National Dementia-Specific Senior Housing Database

Article Outline

• Reduced Age-Related Cataracts Among Elderly Persons Who Reach Age 90 with Preserved Cognition: A Biomarker of Successful Aging?
• The Association of Sex Hormone Levels with Quantitative Ultrasound, Bone Mineral Density, Bone Turnover, and Osteoporotic Fractures in Older Men and Women
• Blood Inflammation Plays Role in Alzheimer’s Disease
• Deficits in Facial Emotion Processing in Mild Cognitive Impairment

The Alzheimer’s Association, in collaboration with SNAPforSenior, is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the Senior Housing Finder, the first national online dementia-specific senior housing database. The Alzheimer’s Association and SNAPforSeniors invite all senior housing and residential care providers to complete a free SNAP-Profile so that their detailed information will be included in search results when the search engine goes live in November 2007. There is no cost associated with completing the profile.

The Senior Housing Finder is an extension of the Alzheimer’s Association CareFinder experience. People living with dementia, family members, and health care professionals currently use CareFinder to identify care options based on a person’s needs and preferences. The addition of the Senior Housing Finder powered by SNAPforSeniors provide innovative search tools that allow users to locate professional and residential care options that match the level of care an individual requires.

The housing finder functions much like a regular search engine, allowing users to search by various geographic criteria, name of residence, housing type, availability status, and license type. An advanced search option will also be available that allows users to screen for desired lifestyle amenities and care services, including the specific level of dementia care offered.

Consumers may access Senior Housing Finder directly through the Alzheimer’s Association’s Web site: www.alz.org.

A number of benefits are associated with completing a SNAP-Profile, some of which include the following:

Please go to SNAPforSeniors.com to fill out a profile, or visit www.alz.org and click on “Professionals & Researchers” and then on “Professional Care Providers.”

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Reduced Age-Related Cataracts Among Elderly Persons Who Reach Age 90 with Preserved Cognition: A Biomarker of Successful Aging? 

Tissue damage due to oxidative stress has been implicated in aging, memory loss, and cataract formation. It was hypothesized that persons who achieved exceptional longevity with preserved cognition (successful aging [SAG]) would exhibit a lower rate of age-related cataract (ARC) than the general population. The age-specific rates of ARC for a group of 100 (50 male, 50 female) elderly persons who reached at least age 90 years with preserved cognition were compared with the corresponding rates of ARC reported in 5 population-based studies. The principal finding of this report was that the SAG group manifested a significant reduction in the age-specific rate and lifetime cumulative incidence of ARC compared with the general population. Steroid use, alcohol consumption, gout, and skin lesions resulting from excessive sun exposure emerged as risk factors. The findings suggest that the progressive development of lens opacities may be reflective of degenerative events occurring more generally throughout the body.

Source: J Gerontol Series A Biol Sci Med Sci 2007;62:500–6.

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The Association of Sex Hormone Levels with Quantitative Ultrasound, Bone Mineral Density, Bone Turnover, and Osteoporotic Fractures in Older Men and Women 

Summary Objective: Sex steroids play an important role in the maintenance of bone health. Association studies on sex steroids and fractures are not consistent. Our objective was to examine whether serum oestradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) are associated with quantitative ultrasound (QUS), bone mineral density (BMD), bone turnover markers, and fracture incidence. Design: The Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam (LASA), an ongoing cohort study including 623 men and 634 women, aged 65 to 88 years. Measurements: Serum levels of E2, T, sex hormone binding globulin, albumin, and bone turnover markers serum osteocalcin (OC) and urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD/Cr) were measured. QUS of the heel and BMD of the hip were assessed, and a 6-year fracture follow-up was performed. Results: Men in the lowest quartile (Q1) of bioavailable E2 (bioE2) had higher levels of bone turnover and lower BMD (B = −0.09, P < .01) and QUS than men in the highest quartile (Q4). This also applied to Q1 of bioT. Women in Q1 of bioE2 had higher levels of bone turnover and lower BMD (B = −0.07, P < .01) and QUS than women in Q4. In men and women, levels of bioE2 below the median were associated with an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures after all adjustments (hazard ratio [HR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02 to 2.29). In men, univariate analysis revealed that low bioT was associated with an increased fracture risk (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.03–3.56), but after adjustment for age, this association was no longer significant. Conclusions: Low levels of bioE2 and bioT were found to be associated with high bone turnover, low QUS and BMD and high risk of osteoporotic fractures in both men and women.

Source: Clin Endocrinol 2007;67:295–303.

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Blood Inflammation Plays Role in Alzheimer’s Disease 

People whose blood shows signs of inflammation are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people with no signs of inflammation.

The study, which is part of the larger Framingham Heart Study, involved 691 healthy people with an average age of 79 years. Blood tests determined whether the participants had signs of inflammation. The participants were then followed for an average of 7 years. During that time, 44 of the participants developed Alzheimer’s disease.

The participants’ blood was tested for levels of cytokines, which are protein messengers that trigger inflammation. Those with the highest amount of cytokines in their blood were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as those with the lowest amount of cytokines. A total of 28% of the women and 30% of the men had high levels of cytokines, yet they made up 42% of the cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Neurology 2007;68(22):1902–1908.

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Deficits in Facial Emotion Processing in Mild Cognitive Impairment 

Background: Patients with Alzheimer disease consistently demonstrate impaired performance on tests of facial emotion processing. However, it remains unclear how early in the neurodegenerative process these deficits emerge. Methods: The question was approached by examining facial emotional processing in a “predementia” condition, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Nine single-domain amnestic MCI subjects, 14 multiple-domain amnestic MCI subjects (MCI-MD), and 68 normal control subjects were assessed with the Florida Affect Battery. Results: After adjustment for age and gender, analyses of performance across the facial affect processing subtests of the Florida Affect Battery demonstrated intact performance in the single-domain MCI group but significantly impaired performance in the MCI-MD group, particularly on a test of facial affect discrimination. Within the MCI-MD group, men performed disproportionately worse than women. Performance on facial affect discriminations in the MCI-MD group correlated most robustly with performance on tests of frontal/executive function. Conclusion: These data suggest that facial emotion processing can be impaired in MCI before the more marked cognitive deficits seen with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer disease.

Source: Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2007;23:2719.