Latest news with #KristineYaffe
New York Post
01-07-2025
- Health
- New York Post
US states with the highest dementia rates revealed — did yours make the list?
Home is where the heart is — but it also might be where your memory slips away. A sweeping new study found that dementia rates vary drastically across the US in ways that can't be explained by traditional risk factors. The research suggests that where you live could play a significant role in whether you develop the memory-robbing disease later in life, opening new doors for targeted prevention efforts. 3 One in 10 Americans ages 65 and older is living with dementia. Getty Images/iStockphoto Dementia is a growing public health concern that affects more than 6 million Americans and causes over 100,000 deaths each year, according to the National Institutes of Health. Looking ahead, researchers predict new dementia cases in the US will double over the next 40 years — increasing from roughly 514,000 in 2020 to nearly 1 million by 2060. That means Americans over 55 face a 42% lifetime risk of being diagnosed. But could your zip code hold the key to lowering those odds? Dementia hot spots Researchers at UC San Francisco (UCSF) analyzed health data from more than 1.2 million veterans aged 65 and older, courtesy of the Veterans Health Administration. Over an average of 12 years, the team tracked who developed the disease — then compared the numbers by location. The Mid-Atlantic had the lowest dementia rate, with just 11.2 cases per 1,000 people annually. But other parts of the country saw significantly higher risks: The Southeast — Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi — had a 25% higher dementia diagnosis rate compared to the Mid-Atlantic. The Northwest and Rocky Mountains were 23% higher. The South saw an 18% increase. The Southwest trailed with a 13% higher rate. The South Atlantic and Midwest regions were about 12% higher. The Northeast and Great Lakes had a 7% increase. Notably, the regional differences couldn't be explained when researchers factored in common risk factors like age, race, heart disease or rural versus urban living. 3 The biggest risk factor for dementia is aging, but where you live also might play a role. Monkey Business – The study does have some limitations. The authors only looked at veterans, who are mostly male and may not reflect the general population. This group also faces unique risks, like traumatic brain injury and PTSD, which could impact their odds. Still, the results were clear: where you live matters. 'The study underscores the need to understand regional differences in dementia and the importance of region-specific prevention and intervention efforts,' Dr. Kristine Yaffe, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Population Brain Health at UCSF, said in a statement. Next, the researchers aim to uncover what's driving these geographic gaps. 'Quality of education, early life conditions and environmental exposures may be key factors,' said Dr. Christina Dintica, first author of the study and a UCSF postdoctoral scholar. Fight back against forgetting While UCSF digs into why some places have higher dementia rates, you don't have to wait to protect your brain. 3 Lifestyle changes like more physical activity could help prevent dementia. Kay Abrahams/ – Studies suggest that nearly 45% of dementia cases can be prevented or delayed — with experts outlining five simple steps you can take right now to lower your risk. First, get moving. Regular physical activity doesn't just keep your body in shape — it sharpens your mind too. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening sessions twice weekly. Beyond exercise, managing your health is crucial. Preventing or controlling diabetes is key because too much sugar in your blood can damage vital organs — including your brain. Along those lines, keeping your blood pressure under control is equally important. High blood pressure harms blood vessels and cuts blood flow to the brain, increasing your risk of stroke and memory loss. Your hearing also plays a role. Taking steps to prevent hearing loss — or getting treatment if you already have it — matters because hearing loss can make your brain work harder, draining resources needed for memory and thinking. Finally, try to limit or avoid drinking and smoking. Excessive alcohol can cause high blood pressure and brain injury, while smoking increases the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
San Francisco Chronicle
29-06-2025
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Is forgetting things ‘normal' aging or something worse? Here's first step to finding out
Millions of Americans live with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and millions more are projected to be diagnosed in the coming years. If you're having memory or cognitive problems, the first thing you should do is get evaluated by your doctor, medical experts said. They stress that not all memory loss and cognitive decline are degenerative or permanent, so it's important to get tested to try to understand the underlying causes of the symptoms and seek the right treatment if applicable. Testing for cognitive decline Many people go first to their primary care physician or geriatrician, who may then refer them to a neurologist. Two widely used tests are the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA) and the Saint Louis University Mental Status Exam. 'If someone is concerned about their memory and thinking, and feel there's a change from their prior baseline, the first step is to talk to their primary care physician,' said Dr. Irina Skylar-Scott, a Stanford neurologist who specializes in memory disorders. 'They can do a basic evaluation and talk to them to see if there could be an issue.' Testing can include taking a detailed history, asking what function was like before and what's changed, and comparing your results with what's expected in people of the same age and education level. Sometimes doctors do additional testing, such as bloodwork and brain imaging. Bloodwork can show if someone has abnormal thyroid function or abnormal vitamin B12 levels, both of which can cause symptoms that mimic dementia. A brain MRI can show whether certain areas have tissue loss in the memory centers of the brain. Because there are so many potential causes of cognitive problems other than dementia — such as depression, stroke, sleep apnea and other diseases — it's important to rule out other medical conditions that could be contributing to dementia-like symptoms. The 3 types of memory loss There are distinct categories of memory and cognition loss, and neurologists and geriatricians generally put them in three buckets: 'Normal aging' is characterized by some memory loss, often short-term, and subtle loss of cognition, especially with things involving speed or multitasking. It may take a little longer, or require a little more effort, to store or recall information. But the cognitive changes don't affect your ability to function day to day. 'As we get older, we tend to have very subtle, often slight declines in certain cognition,' said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at UCSF and a leading researcher of cognitive aging. 'That slows down a little bit but doesn't get in the way of what you can do. If you were to be tested, it'd be a mild change.' Many people experience this, and it's not necessarily a medical problem. 'If you compare people in their 30s and 40s, by the time they're in their 70s and 80s, they're going to have small declines,' Yaffe said. 'That'd be 'normal aging.' They're not quite as fast or facile, but it's not anything major and not getting in the way of their functioning.' If you forgot where you parked your car or where you left your glasses or keys, 'those are kind of normal things,' said Dr. Wynnelena Canio, a geriatrician at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael. 'The most common cause of memory issues is not paying attention. When we park or leave our glasses on the table, a lot of times our mind is somewhere else because we're in a hurry so we didn't store that information to begin with.' Mild cognitive decline (MCI) is a formal diagnosis for which the criterion is demonstrating impairment on at least one cognitive domain — language, memory, executive function, and visual-spatial skills — during testing. Being impaired means you've scored significantly below the norm for your age and education level in that domain. But you're still functioning, for the most part, on your own — though you may rely more on lists to remember things, for instance. 'Usually people have some sort of subjective sense,' Yaffe said. 'Their loved ones will say, 'Yes, they have declined on this.' Sure enough, they don't do as well on testing, but are still functioning OK. It's not enough where it's really getting in the way. They don't remember some things but are still able to do a lot of what they used to be able to do.' MCI can, but does not always progress to dementia. An estimated 10% to 15% of people living with MCI progress to dementia each year, according to the Alzheimer's Association. People with MCI who have certain genetic traits such as APOE4, a variant that increases the risk of Alzheimer's, may be more likely to progress than not, Yaffe said. Dementia involves many symptoms similar to those of MCI. But the main difference is that 'a person with dementia is impaired in function,' said Canio, of Kaiser. 'They need others to help them pay the bills, get them places, get them to their appointments. Once someone is needing assistance from someone else to do some of those things, it's a warning sign it could be dementia.' How quickly dementia may progress — from mild to moderate or severe — is not clear. But the biggest predictor is what someone's trajectory has been to date, said Skylar-Scott, of Stanford. 'A patient with early onset before age 65 will progress much more quickly than patients with late onset,' she said.
Gizmodo
09-06-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
These U.S. States Have the Highest Rates of Dementia
Your zip code may shape your aging brain's health. New research out today shows that people's odds of being diagnosed with dementia differ significantly across different parts of the U.S. Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, led the study, published Monday in JAMA Neurology. They analyzed the medical records of veterans, finding that dementia rates were noticeably higher in the Southeast, Northwest, and other regions, even after accounting for some possible factors like income. The findings suggest that deep-seated regional differences can contribute to dementia risk, the researchers say. Dementia is a growing public health issue, particularly among the elderly. More than 6 million Americans are living with dementia currently and a government-funded study this February projected that 42% of Americans over 55 will develop it in their lifetime. It's a complex condition, with most cases caused by a mix of environmental and/or genetic factors. But according to senior study author and neurologist Kristine Yaffe, there's been little research looking at how the risk of dementia can vary geographically, at least on a national level. Yaffe and her team had access to a dataset that had the potential to shed light on that: deidentified records from people enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated healthcare system in the U.S. 'We realized the VA national data would allow for such an investigation as the VA has a uniform way of capturing data across the U.S.,' Yaffe, who is also chief of neuropsychiatry at the San Francisco VA healthcare system, told Gizmodo in an email. 'There are no other national healthcare systems that have this.' Yaffe's team studied the health of more than 1.2 million randomly selected VA patients 65 years and older who had no pre-existing dementia. These people were followed for an average length of 12 years. After adjusting for age, dementia rates were lowest in the Mid-Atlantic region, covering states like Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Using this as a baseline, the researchers found that dementia rates were 25% higher in the Southeast (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama); 23% higher in both the Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) and the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Montana, and the Dakotas); 18% higher in the South (Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana); 13% higher in the Southwest (California, Nevada, and Arizona); and 7% in the Northeast (New York). 'This is a very large difference, especially given that these are all veterans with care at the VAHS,' Yaffe said. 'It was really surprising we saw such big differences.' The researchers reasoned that factors such as a person's average level of education, how rural a state was, or the rate of other health conditions like heart disease within these states might explain most of the variance they found. But even when they adjusted for these variables, the patterns barely budged at all. That could mean there are other reasons—reasons not so easily captured through medical records alone—why someone in New Jersey will tend to have a lower risk of dementia than a similar person in Kentucky. 'It's possible that the differences are explained by lifelong differences in things like education quality (vs quantity) and social determinants of health might be driving some of the differences,' Yaffe said. The findings now leave open more questions to be answered, which the team plans to start digging into. With any luck, the lessons they learn might help us find new ways to better prevent dementia.
The Independent
09-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
How high is your risk of dementia? It may depend on where you live
How high is your risk of dementia? It might depend on where you live, according to a new study of U.S. veterans. A team at U.C. San Francisco said Monday that it had identified the regions where the chronic brain disorder occurs most often. Using the Mid-Atlantic region as the baseline for comparison, where dementia incidence rates were the lowest, they found that dementia was 25 percent higher in the Southeast. That included Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Whereas, the Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions were both 23 percent higher. Other regions included in the study – one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind – were the South and Southwest, which were 18 and 13 percent higher, respectively. California was included in the Southwest. The Northeast incidence rates were still higher than the Mid-Atlantic, but just by 7 percent. 'The study underscores the need to understand regional differences in dementia and the importance of region-specific prevention and intervention efforts,' UCSF Director of the Center for Population Brain Health Dr. Kristine Yaffe said in a statement. Yaffe was the senior author of the study, which was published in the journal JAMA Neurology. The study included the health records from more than 1.2 million veterans, noting that veterans have a higher prevalence of risk factors such as traumatic brain injuries, depression, and post-traumatic stress. The researchers found that the differences remained when they accounted for certain factors, including age, race, and cardiovascular disease. They noted that access to medical care may be more difficult in rural areas, compared with urban areas. Previous research has found higher rates of dementia in rural communities. Recently, other UCSF researchers found that proteins in spinal fluid may be the key to understanding why middle-aged people develop dementia. The onset of dementia is known to be tied to depression, but different types have their own causes. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form, impacting some 6.7 million Americans. Cases are estimated to double by the year 2060. There is currently no cure. The next step for these researchers is to investigate what the factors driving these differences are. They said they hoped that, by identifying areas with the highest incidence rates, resources can be better allocated and targeted interventions designed to mitigate the impact of dementia on vulnerable populations. 'Quality of education, early life conditions, and environmental exposures may be among those factors,' said first author Dr. Christina Dintica.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Where you live may affect your risk of dementia, UCSF study finds
In a major national study led by UCSF researchers, dementia rates among older Americans were found to vary sharply by region, with the Southeast facing the greatest burden and the Bay Area's broader region faring somewhat better. Published Monday in JAMA Neurology, the study drew on health records from more than 1.2 million veterans age 65 and older, served by the Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health system in the U.S. It is one of the largest efforts to date to chart geographic patterns in dementia, and its findings could guide how public health officials respond to one of the most pressing challenges of an aging population. Using the Mid-Atlantic region — including states such as Pennsylvania and Virginia — as the baseline, UCSF researchers found that dementia incidence was 25% higher in the Southeast, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. Rates in the Northwest and Rocky Mountains were 23% higher, and in the South, including Texas and New Mexico, 18% higher. California was part of the Southwest region, which showed a 13% higher rate of dementia compared to the Mid-Atlantic. The Northeast, including New York and New England states, was 7% higher. 'The study underscores the need to understand regional differences in dementia and the importance of region-specific prevention and intervention efforts,' said senior author Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a professor at UCSF and the San Francisco VA Health Care System. 'Quality of education, early life conditions, and environmental exposures may be among those factors,' she said. The authors noted some limitations in the study, including that veterans 'may not be entirely representative of the general U.S. population, particularly regarding sex and gender distribution,' and have a higher prevalence of dementia risk factors, including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress and depression. However, despite adjusting for race, age, cardiovascular disease and rurality, the regional patterns remained, highlighting the importance of local context in both risk and response, the authors added.
