Alzheimer's Archive

In a 2024 study, men diagnosed with erectile dysfunction who took popular PDE5 inhibitors to treat their condition had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's than men who didn't use medication.

There is no cure for Alzheimer's, but medication can help manage the disease. Currently, the main FDA-approved drugs used to treat Alzheimer's are symptomatic drugs, which ease symptoms but don't address the cause of the disease. A new medication has been shown to slow the disease's progression and reverse some of its effects on memory among people with mild Alzheimer's.

Metformin, a medicine prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes, also has cardiovascular benefits and is used off-label to treat other conditions. Interest is growing in its potential to help lower risks for other serious health problems and even slow aspects of aging, but which of these benefits, if any, apply to people who do not have diabetes?

A 2023 study suggests excessive TV-watching, defined as four or more hours a day, is associated with higher risk of developing brain-based disorders such as dementia, depression, and Parkinson's disease.

A 2023 study found that people who engaged in moderate or vigorous exercise an average of four days a week had more brain mass in regions associated with cognitive skills like memory and learning, compared with people who did not exercise.

Many efforts to improve health are also good for the brain. A study of nearly 400,000 people led researchers to develop a scorecard assessing 12 factors that contribute to the risk of dementia or stroke, making it easy to see where you're doing well and where you might do better.

Young-onset dementia, which occurs in people younger than age 65, is uncommon. A new study has identified 15 factors linked to a higher risk of young-onset dementia.

A 2023 study suggests that people who average 10 or more hours sitting each day face higher risks of dementia than those who sit less, and those risks persist even if they exercise.

A 2023 study of lab animals suggests that the population of microbes in an individual's gut may influence the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found that healthy lab rats developed signs characteristic of Alzheimer's disease when they were injected with gut microbe samples from people with Alzheimer's. Rats that received samples from the most severely affected Alzheimer's patients developed the greatest brain abnormalities and memory problems. Rats did not develop these problems when they were injected with samples from people who had no signs of the disease.