"Largest Legislative Victory in Years" for Alzheimer Cause

The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) is being touted as the “largest legislative victory in many years for the Alzheimer cause.” 

The Alzheimer’s Association persisted in its battle to pass the critical legislation. Congress unanimously approved the legislation, and President Obama has signed off.  According to this celebratory article, the victory was the result of a concerted effort by many individuals orginizations, and reportedly included about 50,000 emails, 10,000 telephone calls, and 1,000 meetings!

Once NAPA is in full-swing, our nation will have what Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius refers to as an “aggressive and coordinated national strategy” to combat the Alzheimer’s Disease crisis.

To celebrate this legislation, we've consolidated some of our most popular articles over the years on the Alzheimer cause. 

Article: New Hope for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s: Plus, Unlikely Team of Players Unite to Battle Disease

Excerpt: "[D]espite the disease’s prevalence, there are already two positive developments in 2011.  First, researchers seem excited about a new means to predict — and perhaps one day to diagnose — the disease with certainty in the living.  Second, an unlikely team of players  has unified on the front lines…"
 

Article: A Mixed Bag in Virginia: Federal Law Prohibits 2011 Social Security Increases, but Federal Agency Grants Millions to Disadvantaged Groups

Excerpt: "This grant funding to Virginia’s Medicaid system comes with high hopes and great expectations. The over $2 million in funding will be used to bolster services for two key underprivileged groups – the elderly and the disabled . . . [one such service is] in-home support services for sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease."

Article: New Medical Conditions — Including Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease — Now Qualify for Automatic Disability Benefits

Excerpt: "Although most of the conditions on the revised list are rare, of tremendous importance for the aging population is the fact that the SSA has now included Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, Mixed Dementia, and Primary Progressive Aphasia among the new fast-track conditions, meaning that people who are diagnosed with any of these conditions can now receive disability benefits very quickly."

Article: Could ‘Biomarkers’ be the Key to Predicting Alzheimer’s?

Excerpt: "'[The use of] biomarkers to identify elderly persons at risk of developing dementia could be useful for early prevention, if and when such interventions are available, and treatment,' the author of the study explained."

Image Credit: Photographer: renjith krishnan

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Good cholesterol linked to reduced Alzheimer’s risk

Alzheimer’s disease is the 7^th leading cause of death and costs about 172 billion dollars annually.[1] Due to the disease’s debilitating nature, more than 10 million caregivers of individuals with the disease are unpaid family members, friends, or volunteers. For these reasons, it is no surprise that research and medical trials are ongoing to combat the disease. Just as important as research from the scientific community, is knowledge of the steps people can take to reduce their risk for developing the disease. The December issue of Archives of Neurology reported that a high level of “good” cholesterol has been found to be linked to a reduced risk for developing Alzheimer’s.[2]

Senior Journal reported on the study from the Archives, explaining that researchers studied 1,130 healthy adults from a pool of Medicare recipients from New York, to study a possible relationship between HDL and Alzheimer’s symptoms.

While the researchers conclude that higher HDL cholesterol was associated with a lowered risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, they also note that “[a]n important consideration in the interpretation of the results is that it was conducted an urban multiethnic elderly community with a high prevalence of risk factors for mortality and dementia.” In other words, as applied to younger individuals, the correlation between HDL and reduced risk for developing Alzheimer’s is unclear.

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[1] Alz.org, Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures (2010), available at http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_facts_and_figures.asp

[2] Senior Journal notes that the study was supported by the National Institute on Aging, the Charles S. Robertson Memorial Gift for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation.

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net