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Study Finds More Younger Adults are Being Diagnosed With Alzheimer's (ibx.com) 76

Posted by EditorDavid from the data-on-dementia dept.
The five years between 2013 and 2017 saw a 200% increase in the number of commercially-insured Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or early-onset dementia between the ages of 30 to 64. "While the underlying cause is not clear, advances in technology are certainly allowing for earlier and more definitive diagnosis," says a Blue Cross executive.

The data was collected by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (and its licensee Independence Blue Cross) in a report titled Early-Onset Dementia and Alzheimer's Rates Grow for Younger Americans. schwit1 shared their announcement: Among that group, the average age of a person living with either form of dementia is 49... The number diagnosed with these conditions increased 373% among 30- to 44-year-olds, 311% among 45- to 54-year-olds and 143% among 55- to 64-year-olds from 2013 to 2017...

The study also took a deeper look into early-onset Alzheimer's disease and found that more than 37,000 commercially insured Americans between the ages of 30 and 64 were diagnosed with the condition in 2017 — a 131% jump in diagnoses since 2013.
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Study Finds More Younger Adults are Being Diagnosed With Alzheimer's More

Study Finds More Younger Adults are Being Diagnosed With Alzheimer's

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  • Inflammation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Idimmu Xul ( 204345 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @11:41AM (#59808482) Homepage Journal

    This is totally caused by our shitty diets

    https://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/1... [www.nhs.uk]

    • This is totally caused by our shitty diets

      In what way have our diets gotten worse since 2013? You could just as easily claim using dietary statistics that Alzheimer's is caused by claiming to be vegan.

      • You could just as easily claim using dietary statistics that Alzheimer's is caused by claiming to be vegan.

        No, that's a different type of dementia.

      • In what way have our diets gotten worse since 2013?

        Diets probably haven't worsened much since 2013, but poor diet doesn't affect you immediately. Poor health comes after years and decades of poor dietary choices. The study just indicates that the effects are finally showing up en masse.

    • Re:Inflammation (Score:5, Interesting)

      by fuzzyf ( 1129635 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @01:55PM (#59808772)
      It's odd that removing carbohydrates from the diet reduces the symptoms of Alzheimers.

      I mentioned this in another thread, but I'll repeat it here since it really is interesting.

      Quote from
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
      "Single studies with human participants have demonstrated a reduction of disease symptoms after application."

      Hugely simplified (any maybe a bit wrong) summary from what I understand:
      Basically it seems the brain cannot use bloodsugar as fuel any more, and braincells die due to lack of energy. But the body really has two ways of providing energy, one is through bloodsugar and the other is using ketones (from fat). Of course it's really early, but it looks really interesting.

      This is by no means the cause and cure for Alzheimers, but it will be very interesting to see in the future with more research.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Unsurprising. For at least a couple of years, medical research has pointed at Alzheimer's being a form of diabetes. So it stands to reason that the same treatment (replacing sugar with protein) would help in treating Alzheimer's as much as it helps in treating diabetes. In fact, I'd have been surprised if that didn't help.

        • Unsurprising. For at least a couple of years, medical research has pointed at Alzheimer's being a form of diabetes. So it stands to reason that the same treatment (replacing sugar with protein)

          Ouch!! NO NO NO. You replace sugar with fat. Protein is simply turned into sugar if you eat too much, a process known as gluconeogenesis.

          One of the biggest blockers of people going into ketosis is eating too much protein and not enough fat.

          https://www.healthline.com/nut... [healthline.com]

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            Not necessarily. Protein doesn't get converted to glucose nearly as quickly as sugars and starches, hence the reason that, assuming you aren't insulin-deficient, protein tends to not cause significant blood sugar increases [nih.gov]. And although fat tends to be converted even more slowly, it can curiously increase insulin resistance in a way that protein doesn't. So although fat might be better in theory, in practice, it probably isn't, but it's hard to say with any certainty. The one thing that's certain is th

    • Likely one cause.

      Can I sue the advertisers and the fast food industry for this?!

      (Another example of capitalism at it's worst!)
    • No, it's not. There probably isn't actually any increase at all; rather this is most likely an increase in testing and thus the reported incidence. The relative incidence increased by 300%. The absolute risk increased from 0.00042% to 0.00126%. That small of a difference is almost certainly due to more testing due to fewer uninsured under Obamacare. The fact that the increase was greater for younger populations who were more likely to gain coverage under the PPACA supports that. Also, correlation does not

  • Not surprisiAng (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @11:50AM (#59808502)

    The diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's was updated in 2011. Prior to that only full blown Alzheimer's dementia was recognized, and a firm diagnosis was really only available at autopsy. The new criteria include mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's, and also preclinical disease (although this category is not supposed to be used clinically, only for research).

    As the new criteria get used more widely more people with mild cognitive impairment will get an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Expect the rate to jump considerably if an effective therapy becomes available as well.

    • The medical industry wants to expand diagnosis so that we are all sick, there is little profit in healthy people.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Conspiracy theories are fun, aren't they?

        Diagnosing Alzheimer's-related mild cognitive impairment is useful because it gives patients and families time to prepare. One day, when an effective therapy is discovered, it will be *much* easier to treat when you still have most of your brain left intact.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @11:56AM (#59808510)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • That is very interesting, but most of those precursors cannot be directly controlled either? My father-in-law suffers from insomnia, and has attacked it with professional help but there doesn't seem to be a direct remedy.

      Also, what defines gastro-intestinal balance? (Are we talking about IBS-type stuff?)

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I’ve usually heard it described as a shitty/poor diet (usually sugar rich) that leads to an overpopulation of bacteria in the gut which feed on those types of food and produce byproducts as a part of consuming them which leads to inflammation and other side effects that create health problems.

        I think there’s some good scientific basis for all of it, but it’s relatively new and we’re only just getting faint inklings of a really complex system. So this means there’s also a lot

        • It's simpler than that.

          You eat a Western diet and so have high glucose intake and so high insulin to keep blood glucose levels in range (until that breaks down and you have full blown diabetes).

          Glucose can get through the blood-brain barrier. Insulin doesn't just float through - there are receptors on the barrier cells that pull in the insulin at spit it out the other side. The rate of insulin attenuation matches the rate of glucose attenuation, so inside the brain everything is fine - the insulin level is

        • I’ve usually heard it described as a shitty/poor diet (usually sugar rich) that leads to an overpopulation of bacteria in the gut which feed on those types of food and produce byproducts as a part of consuming them which leads to inflammation and other side effects that create health problems. Here's a bit of weird History for you: Old Adolph Hister, had really bad digestive problems. He was vegetarian, ate a lot of beans, probably for their protein. Anyhow he had a really strange Doctor who prescribed medication based on the idea that gut bacteria could get all messed up. So they made shit extract from healthy young soldiers, put it in capsules, and Old Adolph gobbled those capsules down.

          The other Nasties, thought that old Doctor Theodore Morell was a disgusting creep quack.

          And then Hisler got better. His digestive flora apparently adjusted with healthy bacteria.

          Go figure!

    • "She said that in all her career, she had never seen a dementia patient without at least one major risk factor of internal medicine fully developed: diabetes, high blood pressure, chronically insufficient sleep, and screwed up gastro-intestinal balance."

      Perhaps because people who don't have that don't visit doctors.
      Both of them.

    • and her specialty is what they call "lifestyle medicine"

      It is better known as Behavioral Health/Therapy, but that doesn't sit well with most people. Everyone would benefit from learning coping skills and maintaining a better lifestyle

    • screwed up gastro-intestinal balance

      Is that how it's listed in the Merck Manual?

    • trying to get patients to improve by not just giving them drugs against symptoms, but also trying to improve their habits.

      The doctor of the future will prescribe no medicine before the patient takes care of themselves.

      I can no longer remember who said, but it was given to me on a mimeographed sheet back in elementary school (I think). Searching hasn't revealed that exact quote, but for some reason I want to associate it with Hippocrates.

      As a side note, I did find Hippocrates saying something similar:

      Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.

      Of course Hippocrates also said:

      A physician without

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Either you misunderstood or she was colouring the truth. There are diseases that cause dementia that aren't particularly rare and have known, direct causes. Huntington's for example.

      Many non-Alzheimer's dementia patients have small vessel disease, which can be caused or at least exacerbated by diabetes or high blood pressure.

  • It could also have something to do with the expansion and more common usage of anticholinergic drugs that have appeared on the market in the last several decades, many available OTC. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), oxybutynin, tolterodine, scopolamine, hydrozine, cyclobenzaprine, trazodone, Dramamine, chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton), dextromethorphan (Robitussin)....... the list goes on and on.

  • Alzheimer's is Type 3 Diabetes... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iCEBaLM ( 34905 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @12:11PM (#59808552)

    A diet high in sugar causes Alzheimer's. It's no wonder that as the sugar lobby won and all our food now had added sugar more and more people are developing Alzheimer's.

    https://alzheimer.ca/en/Home/A... [alzheimer.ca]

  • Recommended reading (Score:4, Informative)

    by transporter_ii ( 986545 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @12:29PM (#59808602) Homepage

    I just finished this last week:

    The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine
    https://www.amazon.com/Angel-A... [amazon.com]

    It may not have all the answers, but I've studied this area for several decades and it is one of the best books I have read on the subject. Again, not all the answers, but gets to the root cause. Sort of a universal theory that explains multiple diseases, not just Alzheimer's.

    I look forward to the book that has the answers, but its hard to get there if you don't understand the why.

    A few paragraphs I transcribed for my review (of the audiobook):

    [S]cientist now refer to this process of excessive glial attacks on neurons and synaptic over pruning as neuroinflammation. Or, in diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's as neurodegeneration.

    In disorders like autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and mood disorders. Neuroscientist call this process neural-developmental changes.

    But, whatever term we use to refer to these brain changes, they all mean the same thing. Tiny microglia are engulfing and destroying synapses, and this is the catalyst that sets in motion hundreds of different disorders and diseases that have long remained the black box of psychiatry and neurology.

    This means that the long held line in the sand between mental and physical health simply does not exist.

    When an individual's immune system is over taxed, for some disease may show up in the brain. While for others, it may show up in the body. It could inflame your joins, or your mind, or both.

  • ... and especially in the brain from chronic exposure coming freaking everywhere: air (cars, wood heating, toxic dust of all types, cigarette, industrial activities, ...), water (crap in the air ends up in the water), food we eat even the organic stuff, the "healthy" fruits and vegetables, whole grains, plant-based protein, etc. Cookware leaching heavy metals in food especially when acidic.

    Lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, chromium, aluminum, thallium, etc. all on the rise everywhere.

    Not a single one high en

    • I advocate the use of Selenium and Vitamin E in the diet. (but you have to be carefule with Vitamin E as it is fat soluble. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]

      • I advocate the use of Selenium and Vitamin E in the diet. (but you have to be carefule with Vitamin E as it is fat soluble.
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]

        Crazy stuff. Based on World's Healthiest Foods rankings of best sources of selenium and vitamin E, the best sources of these nutrients happen to be among the highest in heavy metals with a few exceptions such as dairy, chicken breast, turkey, Pacific wild caught salmon. I excluded also the high selenium/low heavy metals red meat candidates because of increased colon cancer through heme iron metabolism by some gut bacteria.

        selenium:
        http://www.whfoods.com/genpage... [whfoods.com]
        vitamin E:
        http://www.whfoods.com/genpage... [whfoods.com]

        h

  • but I can't remember what it was.

  • I don't see this being mentioned anywhere. But in the US and most of Europe, cows are lined up and shot (not exactly with a bullet but with a bolt) into their brain, making them continue standing stunned with their heart beating while their brain matter mixes with the blood. The blood with brain matter of course reaches several organs and tissues by the time the cow is killed and the meat is harvested. This to me is the worst way to kill a cow in terms of human health safety, though it maybe humane. The hal

    • Personally, I think that if you're going to go the kosher/halal route, you should just go all the way and decapitate the cow outright with a guillotine... far more humane than leaving it gurgling in its own blood for its last second or two of consciousness, and it eliminates any possibility of brain tissue getting into the bloodstream. The downside is, you'd have to come up with something like a big rotating platform with multiple 'kill stations' whereby the cow would be led onto it and positioned while it

  • I was going to read the article because it sounded interesting, but then I forgot all about it.

  • We seem so close... (Score:3)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Sunday March 08, 2020 @05:32PM (#59809198)
    Just within the last few years, they've done some interesting experiments. I can't find the research papers right now (here's a piece [nytimes.com]), but the gist was this: They transplanted fecal bacteria from people, who had some of the various diseases where the cause is unknown (recalling from my memory, depression, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, Parkinson's, MS, and autism), into mice. The mice later exhibited the symptoms of the diseases.(!)

    The did the experiment again with new mice, but this time, they first cut the vagus nerve (the main autonomic nerve that is the superhighway from the center of the brain to the gut) before doing the transplant, and the mice did NOT get the symptoms.

    I've also read elsewhere that "bad" gut bacteria can make the gut, and the brain, more permeable. If this is true, then maybe something (the bacteria themselves or maybe an excreted chemical) is affecting the brain by crawling up the vagus nerve.(?)

    An interesting side note, clinical medicine is now using electrical vagus nerve stimulators to treat some of those diseases' symptoms (including obesity).

    • Close but that's not quite it.

      P-Lectins (natural insecticides in plants) can latch onto the vagus nerve and travel all the way to the brain where they wreak havok. This isn't so much a hypothesis since the took photographs of the bloody things doing exactly that. It's not stimulus, it's poisons using it as a highway.

      Cut one of the two vagus nerves (It's a thing) and the probability of getting Parkinsons drop by 50%. That was a Danish study.

      The bacterial stuff never leads anywhere. It gets observed once then

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kackle ( 910159 )
        Interesting; thanks for the information. I wonder why electrically stimulating the nerve has such an effect then. Rheumatoid arthritis is another one affected by such stimulation.

        • The results from stimulating the vagus nerve have been very variable. The vagus nerve's full function is not well understood.

  • Elephants are in the room (Score:3, Insightful)

    by groobly ( 6155920 ) on Monday March 09, 2020 @10:31AM (#59811130)
    In younger age groups there has been an explosion in binge drinking and drug use, especially high potency weed, but also meth and opiates. Not every brain can tolerate it well.
  • however ... i saw my grandma go up-close from Alzheimers, i pretty much know the symptoms, everything she complained about before la familia decided she couldnt stay at home alone anymore. Then she lived here in this house for another six months-ish, at the onset or how to say it, actually in this very room im typing in right now, sleeping here sometimes feels like that King Diamond cd ... the early stage is horrible with the paranoia, and the fits, resisting something but you don't know what, trusting no o
  • There is a huge difference between absolute and relative risk. There was a 300% relative increase in risk. But if the absolute risk of Alzheimers before the age of 50 is 0.001%, then that increasing to 0.003% is all it takes to drive the relative risk up 300%. In reality, this is probably an effect of testing. Young people are notoriously un- and under-insured. The PPACA (Obamacare) increased the number of young people with insurance by allowing them to stay on their parents insurance for longer, subsidizin

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