5 Reasons to Support World Alzheimer's Day

Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation

What's with every disease and medical condition having a day or month geared toward raising awareness?  Are such efforts effective? Wouldn't it be better to put our time and energy into new treatments and cures?

Those are fair questions.

Here's a link to a great argument in support of Alzheimer's awareness, and why awareness matters.  The article explains how heightened awareness can drive real benefits in five important ways, each of which are carefully explained in the full article:

1. Low Awareness drives higher medical costs
2. Awareness facilitates timely medical intervention and better treatment outcomes
3. Awareness erodes stigma and further enables timely medical intervention
4. Awareness and management of risk factors can lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease
5. Awareness accelerates scientific progress

It is easy to overlook “awareness” as an important part of the solution to the Alzheimer’s problem. This is especially true given the clear need for better treatment. However, a little reflection on the benefits of awareness, weighed against the relative ease with which we can spread information today, shows the massive benefits of greater awareness.

Awareness matters. Please do your part to increase awareness by clicking through, and then reading and sharing the article with your online social networks.

Calories, Obesity, and Memory Loss

Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation

The stated purpose of this blog is to clarify the daily news about brain health.  Certainly, a lot of the reporting in this space needs to be filtered and contextualized for clarity.  But not all of it.

I noticed a very well-written article published today in the Pacific Standard,  describing research about the relationships between high calorie diets and memory loss, as well as between obesity and overall cognition.  I will summarize the main points below but I encourage you to click through and read this excellent piece of reporting.

According to a Mayo Clinic study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, high calorie diets (exceeding a threshold of 2143 calories/day) are associated with higher risk for cognitive impairment among the elderly.  The article also summarizes other research concluding that obesity in mid-life is a risk factor for dementia, and that weight loss can improve memory and organizational skills.

Overall, this is a well-organized summary of evidence that managing cardiovascular health through proper diet may have a clear and significant impact on overall cognitive health.

Is "Mini-Stroke" a Misleading Term?

Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation

As our population simultaneously ages and becomes more obese, poor cardiovascular health has driven the incidence of certain medical conditions ever higher.  For example, general awareness and acceptance of transient ischemic attacks, alternatively known as TIA's and mini-strokes, has risen notably over the past two decades.

While awareness of medical conditions and the risks that cause them is generally a good thing,  a false comfort, based on a perception of "good medical outcomes", can be quite dangerous.

Sticking with the example of TIA's, the tone of much public discourse on such a clear symptom of severe cardiovascular disease, has been somewhat benign.  Because "mini-strokes" are common, and immediate outcomes are often fairly good, we may be developing a false notion that a mini-stroke is a minor occurrence.  On the contrary, a mini-stroke is a serious sign that immediate, medical attention is needed.

A recent study published in the journal Stroke showed that lingering disabilities, following a mini-stroke, are highly prevalent.  In fact, about 15% of patients who had a single TIA had lingering disabilities after three months and, for those who had a series of TIA's, more than half (53%) had lingering disabilities.

More importantly, TIA's are a major warning sign of an underlying problem that could lead to a much bigger stroke and major debilitation of the brain.  While the symptoms of a small stroke may fade quickly, immediate medical attention is still required.  Ignoring such events could lead to dire consequences including death.

The term "Mini-Stroke" may connote an insignificant event, but the evidence suggests that any stroke is serious, and the concept of "mini" might be misleading in terms of its health-related consequences.