Alzheimer's of Central Alabama

Serving people with Alzheimer’s, caregivers and professionals in central Alabama through education, caregiver services and research grants.

ACA’s Weekly Email March 22, 2024

Help deserving families caring for a loved one living with Alzheimer’s disease by sponsoring an Easter Care Basket with your donation of $50.  Each basket will be hand delivered by an ACA volunteer. Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama is currently providing services for 282 Alabama families living with dementia in 18 counties across the state. We are financially supporting 70 families with scholarships to attend adult day care. Continence supplies are shipped to 151 people and Ensure is being shipped to 110. Project Lifesaver bracelets keep loved ones safe from wandering.  https://alzca.org/carebasket/

Brookdale Senior Living is hosting ad Seminar on Elder Law featuring Elder Lawyer, Lynn Campisi, March 28, 10 to 11 a.m.  400 University Park Drive, 35209.  Call (205) 870-0786

Join Founders Place and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church every second Thursday of the month at 1:15, for a dementia-friendly communion service in the Chapel. All are invited. This is specially designed to be accessible, inclusive, and casual. There will be worship, reading of scripture, prayer, and communion. No RSVP needed. 3736 Montrose Road, 35213.

Support Group Meetings:

March Webinars from Alabama Lifespan Respite: https://alabamarespite.org/events2/

Alzheimer’s News:

Can someone who has no memory problems be given a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease?  That is the conundrum posed by proposed new guidelines that seek to change the definition of who has Alzheimer’s disease. The draft guidelines, led by a workgroup of experts assembled by the Alzheimer’s Association, would dramatically expand the number of people with Alzheimer’s, including millions who have no memory complaints or thinking problems. Many of them would never go on to develop what doctors currently consider dementia or mild cognitive impairment, the serious memory problems that can progress to full-blown Alzheimer’s.  Under the proposal, people without memory problems but who have abnormal levels of toxic beta-amyloid in the brain would be defined as having stage 1 Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of beta-amyloid, which in its toxic form clumps together to form plaques in the brain, is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The abnormal accumulation of beta-amyloid is increasingly easy to detect using blood tests and brain scans. But beta-amyloid can begin to accumulate decades before memory loss and other symptoms become apparent. And many people with abnormal accumulations of the toxic protein will never go on to develop serious memory problems or Alzheimer’s disease as we know it today.  Proponents of the guidelines argue that early detection of Alzheimer’s, through blood tests and/or brain scans, would allow for early treatments that could potentially delay the onset of memory loss and other symptoms. Many of the newer drugs for Alzheimer’s, such as Leqembi, target beta-amyloid in the brain, and some experts believe the earlier the drugs are given in the course of Alzheimer’s, the more effective they may be. But whether beta-amyloid accumulation leads directly to symptom progression remains unproven, and critics of the guidelines argue that diagnosing and treating the disease five, 10 or even 20 years before memory loss appears would potentially expose patients to potentially harmful side effects from drugs they may never need. The drugs are very expensive and have been known to cause brain swelling and bleeding, and in some cases may even prove fatal.  https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/diagnosis/free-of-memory-problems-but-diagnosed-with-alzheimers/

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, on March 20, unanimously passed three key bills addressing America’s Alzheimer’s crisis. “The bills the committee passed today play a major role in our fight to end a national crisis that has plagued the lives of tens of millions of patients, caregivers, and loved ones all across our country,” said UsAgainstAlzheimer’s chair and co-founder George Vradenburg. “These bills reinforce Alzheimer’s as a national priority, strengthen our national response, and increase accountability in federal spending allocated to fighting this disease.”

  • National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) – This bill serves as an important piece of legislation and commitment by the federal government to prioritize Alzheimer’s and address it with urgency and as a public health crisis. A major priority of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, NAPA prioritizes the importance of risk reduction and prevention.
  • Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act of 2024 – This reauthorization bill represents an effort to strengthen our nation’s response to Alzheimer’s with a specific focus on increasing public awareness of the disease. It provides funding for state, local and tribal public health departments to support the implementation of interventions that center on reducing risks and increasing early detection and diagnosis of the disease.
  • Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act – This bill enhances accountability and transparency in federal spending for Alzheimer’s research, care, and support services. Specifically, the bill requires the National Institutes of Health to submit annual budget and estimated personnel needed to carry out initiatives related to NAPA.

The bills now advance to the House Floor, where every member of the House of Representatives will have an opportunity to show their support in ending the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.  Connect with your congressman here:  https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

In the pivotal clinical trial for the new Alzheimer’s drug, lequembi, Black patients globally accounted for only 47 of the 1,795 participants — about 2.6 percent. For U.S. trial sites, the percentage was 4.5 percent.  The proportion of Black enrollees was similarly low for Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s drug, called donanemab, expected to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in coming months. Black people make up more than 13 percent of the U.S. population.  The paltry data for the new class of groundbreaking drugs, which strip a sticky substance called amyloid beta from the brain, has ignited an intense debate among researchers and clinicians. Will the medications — the first glimmer of hope after years of failure — be as beneficial for African Americans as for White patients?  The situation casts a spotlight yet again on the decades-long failure of researchers to reflect the increasingly diverse character of the patient population in the United States, and underscores the stark disparities in Alzheimer’s treatment and care. Black Americans develop the disease and related dementias at twice the rate of their White counterparts, but are less likely to receive specialized care and are diagnosed at later stages, studies show. That’s an urgent problem considering that the new drugs must be used early to have an effect. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01/29/alzheimers-new-drugs-black-patients-leqembi/?sourceid=1084372&emci=80e109ed-aee0-ee11-85fb-002248223794&emdi=afe1ec73-5de5-ee11-aaf0-002248223794&ceid=812012

Use of statin drugs was associated with improved mortality in older nursing home residents, regardless of dementia status, a new study showed.  The study is among the first to explore whether statin use in older nursing home residents offers a mortality benefit, especially among individuals with dementia, a group largely excluded from earlier statin trials.  Investigators’ analysis of 4 years of data on nearly 300,000 nursing home residents revealed that statin use was associated with a 40% lower risk for all-cause mortality than statin nonuse in those without dementia and a 20% lower risk in those with dementia.  https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/statins-tied-lower-mortality-even-comorbid-dementia-2024a100059u?ecd=wnl_dne5_240322_MSCPEDIT_etid6392039&uac=407526BK&impID=6392039

In the search for Alzheimer’s risk factors, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, used computers to review medical records from more than 5 million patients from the university’s Memory and Aging Center.   The study identified 749 individuals who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease for whom at least seven years of health data was available. The investigators found, not surprisingly, that patients with heart disease or high cholesterol were at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease years down the road. Numerous earlier studies have shown a strong link between heart disease, including hypertension and high cholesterol, and an increased risk of dementia.  But the analysis revealed other potential Alzheimer’s risk factors as well.  In both men and women, having depression was tied to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, as was low blood levels of vitamin D. In men, erectile dysfunction and an enlarged prostate were likewise tied to an increased Alzheimer’s risk. And in women, osteoporosis, marked by brittle bones, showed a particularly strong link to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/caregiving/how-ai-can-identify-alzheimers-risk-factors/

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee is expected to meet to discuss data from a Phase 3 trial of the anti-amyloid therapy donanemab in people with early Alzheimer’s disease.   Developer Eli Lilly asked the FDA last year to approve donanemab, based on the Phase 3 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 trial that showed it significantly slowed cognitive decline. A regulatory decision had been expected by the end of 2023.  https://alzheimersnewstoday.com/news/fda-advisory-committee-will-review-early-alzheimers-therapy-donanemab/?utm_source=ALZ&utm_campaign=1089e161c0-Email_ENL__US_ALZ&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_94425accb7-1089e161c0-73698866

The new Alzheimer’s Association 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report provides an in-depth look at the latest national and state-by-state statistics on Alzheimer’s disease prevalence, mortality, caregiving and costs of care. The accompanying special report, Mapping a Better Future for Dementia Care Navigation, reveals the difficulties caregivers and care workers experience while navigating dementia care.  https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf

The Alabama Department of Senior Services (ADSS), in partnership with the area agencies on aging want to hear from you. Every four years, ADSS completes a State Plan on Aging that acts as a blueprint of advocacy efforts and services to help meet the needs of senior adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers so they can live at home for as long as possible.  If you are a senior adult, person with a disability, caregiver, and/or someone who’s interested in people living at home and their communities for as long as possible, please complete the short anonymous Needs Assessment, by April 12.  https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=b13dvvy81EaRjX-yEOV4l8RCyObzOTREljif-c2_ESxUNkVNRUM1SEQ4Uzg0QTBOR1BLREU0RTFZUyQlQCN0PWcu 

AFA’s Teen Alzheimer’s Awareness Scholarship provides educational funding to college-bound high school seniors who have been impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.  Applicants are asked to write an essay (1,500 word maximum) or submit a video no more than 4 minutes long, describing the impact of Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia-related illness on themselves, their families or their communities, and what they have learned.  The grand prize winner receives $5,000, with additional prizes awarded for runners up. More than $428,000 in college scholarships have been awarded since the program’s inception.  To qualify for AFA’s Alzheimer’s Awareness Scholarship, the student:

  • Must currently be a senior in high school.
  • Be attending a U.S. college/university in the fall following graduation.
  • Must live in the United States.
  • Must be a U.S. citizen.
  • Submit the essay/video NO LATER than 5:00 pm ET on April 1, 2024.
  • Provide all requested supporting documents.

https://alzfdn.org/young-leaders-of-afa/alzheimers-awareness-scholarship/

Researchers at UAB are conducting a study is to explore the role of psychological flexibility and self-compassion in the mental health of family caregivers of persons living with dementia. Insights gained from this survey will contribute to a better understanding of how to provide further support to family caregivers.  Any family caregivers of persons living with dementia are eligible to participate, and participants will receive $35 compensation (ClinCard) upon survey completion. Additional information regarding the study and compensation is available within the link, prior to beginning the survey.  https://uab.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1T7IMii6oUh23hI

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