Loss of your sense of smell may be Parkinson’s indicator

Problems detecting smells may indicate the potential for the onset of Parkinson’s disease, according to new testing at the Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu.
A study of more than 2,200 men for eight years found that those who developed Parkinson’s also reported an impaired sense of smell preceding the onset of the disease. Those reporting the biggest loss of smell had a five times greater risk of developing the disease. The study reported in the Annals of Neurology said problems detecting odors preceded the development of Parkinson’s by at least four years, supporting earlier research that found that the problems may precede the disease by as many as seven years.
Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system marked by tremors and muscle rigidity. Researchers believe that the olfactory nerves of the nose are one of the first places affected.

Nursing home drugs raise risk of pneumonia, study says

Nursing home patients who are given antipsychotic drugs are 60 percent more likely to develop pneumonia than those who don’t take the drugs, says a Dutch study. The risk is highest during the first week of starting the drugs and gradually decreases, according to the report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Up to 40 percent of nursing home patients are prescribed antipsychotic drugs, usually to treat dementia and delirium. But researchers also found that more than half of the time, the drugs are prescribed for inappropriate reasons, such as for behavioral problems.
Other studies have also found a connection between antipsychotic drugs and increased risk of death and illness in the elderly. The Dutch study called for more care in the prescribing of the drugs.

Middle-age diabetes, depression linked to Alzheimer’s risk

Men who develop diabetes in middle age may have a greater risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease, according to a Swedish study published in the journal Neurology.
Researchers from Uppsala University studied the records of almost 2,300 men over a 32-year period and found that men who had low insulin levels at age 50 were almost one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than 50-year-old men who had no insulin problems.
The researchers theorized that insulin problems damage the brain’s blood vessels, but called for more research.
Depression has been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, and a new study from the Netherlands found that depression may more than double the risk.
The study from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam followed almost 500 people between the ages of 60 and 90 and found that those who reported having an episode of depression over the period were 2.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Moreover, people who reported having depression before age 60 were four times more likely to develop the disease.
Scientists are at odds over whether there is a true connection between depression and Alzheimer’s, with some believing that depression alters certain areas of the brain, making it more susceptible to developing Alzheimer’s. The Dutch study, reported in the journal Neurology, found no physical evidence to support that theory.

Lumbar supports don’t help lower back pain, study finds

Lumbar supports may be ineffective for preventing back pain, according to a study of more than 15,000 people.
Researchers from the Amsterdam School for Health Professionals in the Netherlands conducted 15 clinical trials and found that lumbar supports, wide belts that people wear when doing heavy lifting or other work that stresses the back, were no more effective than simple proper lifting techniques. The trials of people between the ages of 18 and 65 also found that wearing lumbar supports while utilizing proper lifting techniques and muscle training did not decrease the number of reports of back pain.
The study looked only at “non-specific” lower back pain and not pain caused by arthritis, osteoporosis and other conditions.

Bald men don’t have higher heart attack risk, study says

Is a bald man more likely to have heart disease? According to a new study of more than 5,000 men between 52 and 75 years old, the answer is a resounding “not necessarily.”
Researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson found virtually no difference in heart attack risk between men with full heads of hair and those without. The findings were reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
An earlier study concluded that baldness on the top of the head (called vertex baldness) was linked to the risk of heart attack. Scientists theorized that this type of hair loss was due to increased levels of the hormone androgen and that androgen also causes hardening of the arteries. The University of Arizona study, however, found no relationship between increased amounts of the hormone and heart-attack risk.

A woman’s speed of walking linked to her risk of stroke

The speed at which a woman walks may help predict her risk of stroke, according to a new study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
Researchers who studied more than 13,000 postmenopausal women found that those with the slowest walking speeds were almost 70 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than were the women who had the fastest walking speed, after taking traditional risk factors into consideration.
The report in the journal Stroke focused on ischemic stroke, the most common form that is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel supplying the brain. The researchers theorized that slow walkers may already have small areas of subtle brain damage that may be likely spots for a future stroke, but called for more study of the possible correlation.

 

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