“New form of dementia prevalent in 40% of older adults”

 

“New form of dementia prevalent in 40% of older adults,” by Diane Eastabrook, McKnight’s Home Care

Quote:

“Researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging said a form of dementia discovered three years ago could be prevalent in 40% of older adults and up to 50% in Alzheimer’s patients. The researchers published their findings on limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) in Acta Neuropathologica. … LATE symptoms mimic those of Alzheimer’s disease, including memory loss, problems thinking and reasoning in old age. However, researchers found LATE-affected brains look different from Alzheimer’s brains and therapies that work for one may not necessarily work for the other. … The study comes just months after a Medicare billing  study found that nearly a half of billing claims from 2017 mentioned a dementia diagnosis within two years of patients’ death. Learn more about the LATE findings.”

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

The bad news just keeps rolling in. Maybe it will help wake more people up to the need to plan. “40% of all older adults?” That is scary, but maybe it’s only naming a condition previously unidentified that hasn’t worsened. We’ll watch for new research.