Doctors Not Picking Up On Symptoms Of Heart Disease In Women

A doctor and patient looking at a book


There was a disturbing story in The New York Times which reported that new research found that women may not realize that they are having symptoms of heart problems, and that their doctors aren’t picking up on it either.  Studies have shown that women are more likely than men to dismiss the warning signs of a heart attack, sometimes waiting hours or even longer before calling 911 or going to the hospital.  Now researchers are finding that this may be due to the fact that women have less serious symptoms than men when having a heart attack, and doctors have also been downplaying their symptoms and delaying treatment.  Women sometimes have no chest pain but rather have more subtle symptoms like shortness of breath, cold sweats, malaise, fatigue and jaw and back pain.  And when they do get to the hospital, a study which was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association which studied data from millions of emergency room visits before the pandemic, found women complaining of chest pain had to wat an average of 11 minutes more than men to see a doctor or nurse.  The study also found that women were less likely to be admitted to the hospital, had less thorough evaluations, and were less likely to be administered tests like an electrocardiogram, or EKG, which can detect heart problems.  One study found that women complaining of symptoms consistent with heart disease, including chest pain, were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness than men who complained of identical symptoms.

Monterey, CA An Interesting New Twist On Alzheimer’s & Dementia Testing

A woman with grey hair sitting in a chair.


A new training tool dubbed the Interview For Decisional Abilities, or IDA, helps to assess whether some seniors can make informed choices about their own care and well being.  Although not specifically a test for Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, it was developed by two geriatricians to help Adult Protective Services (APS) workers decide if seniors have the cognitive ability to make financial and other decisions, even if those fly in the face of what family members want.  It’s also used by hospital discharge planners to assess whether a patient has the capacity to assist on going home instead of going into rehab.  Assisted living facilities may also start using IDA to see if new residents understood the contracts that they were signing.  Regular readers of my blog know that both my grandmother and my father had this terrible disease when they passed away.  There is a great group of people at the Alzheimer’s Association in Ryan Ranch who are there to help you.  They also have a 24-hour hotline at 1-800-272-3900.

Sneaky Sigs You May Have Heart Disease

A stethoscope and heart on the table.


AARP The Magazine (February/March 2022, page 22) had an interesting article entitled “10 Sneaky Signs You May Have Heart Disease†and many of them are completely unexpected.  Things like bad breath and hip pain can actually be signs of heart disease.  Check out the Top 10 signs from AARP:

  1. You struggle to breathe when lying flat : This can indicate fluid in the lungs, which is associated with heart failure;
  2. You have leg or hip pain while walking (or both). This could signal circulation problems in the legs, a potential sign of peripheral artery disease;
  3. You can’t rise to the occasion : This could signal a blood-flow problem, potentially caused by heart disease;
  4. Or get your juices flowing : Blood-flow issues aren’t just for men. A study found that 84% of men and 87% of women with heart failure reported some degree of sexual disfunction;
  5. You’re fatigued for no reason : This could be a sign of an obstructed coronary artery;
  6. You get up to pee in the middle of the night : A weak heart pumps less blood to the kidneys, which can cause fluid buildup and swollen ankles and leg. At bedtime, gravity drains fluid back to the heart, and the kidneys have more fluid to filter;
  7. Your breath could kill houseplants : Bad breath is caused by bacteria which can enter your bloodstream through bleeding or diseased gums, which is linked to inflammation, clogged arteries and stroke;
  8. You spot fatty growths : Known as xanthomas, these lesions feel like calcium deposits in the tendons, and they can indicate sky-high cholesterol;
  9. Your ankles are swollen : When the heart isn’t pumping blood efficiently, fluid can swell both legs; and
  10. You’re feeling nauseous : Unexplained queasiness could be a sign of heart failure.

Check with your doctor if you have any of these issues, particularly if it has been going on for some time.

 

MRI Studies Looking For Clues To Alzheimer’s And Dementia May Have Been Unreliable

A doctor and patient in a room with a laptop.


A study which was published in the journal Nature found that by studying M.R.I. data from about 50,000 people searching for clues between brain structure and complex psychological traits in groups with different numbers of subjects, thousands of patients must be included for the study to be reliably replicated.  This threw cold water on a number of recent studies done looking for clues in M.R.I.s to solve how diseases develop, looking at anything from autism to Alzheimer’s disease, because they typically only focused on a handful of M.R.I.s.  Researchers from The School of Medicine at Washington University, St. Louis and colleagues located elsewhere noted that researchers across the globe are increasingly using magnetic resonance imaging, or M.R.I., to try and find links between what is seen on an M.R.I. like cortical thickness or patterns of connection, and complicated psychological traits such as cognitive ability or mental-health conditions.  These brain-association studies are looking to unlock clues to what causes mental health and dementia.  The researchers concluded that studies done to date have been too small (many just had a few dozen participants) and suggested that there needed to be at least 1,000 participants for the studies to be considered valid.  This is problematic because M.R.I. machines typically cost about $1,000 per hour to operate.  Journals historically have preferred surprising correlations to findings of no correlation, a phenomenon known as publication bias.  “The paradoxical effect is that the answer that’s the most wrong gets published if you use a small sample,†said Nico Dosenback, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University, as well as an author of the Nature study.

Health Tip : Floss Your Teeth At Least Once Per Day!

A dentist is examining the teeth of a patient.


Staying healthy and having a good diet is one area to focus on, but another is oral health.  Not taking good care of your teeth can result in infection, gum disease, and other issues which can have a negative impact on your health.  According to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, untreated oral diseases caused people ages 50-74 worldwide to suffer a collective 8 million years of life “with disability†in 2019.

Pebble Beach, CA Early Alzheimer’s Disease Is More Common Than One Might Think

A close up of some blue and yellow cells


A new report from The Alzheimer’s Association found that 12-18% of adults 60 and older have “mild cognitive impairment†while more than 1 in 10 older adults have early stage memory or cognitive problems.  Many doctors and patients “think that it might be normal aging, and that’s something that needs to be addressed,†Maria Carillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, told USA Today.   “They can be diagnosed, and a delay of a diagnosis can be harmful,†she said.  Sadly, a survey of 801 primary care doctors found that 72% had difficulty differentiating normal aging from cognitive impairment.  And 60% of doctors were unfamiliar with using tests such as spinal taps or brain scans that measure disease markers such as amyloid or tau.

Future of New Alzheimer’s Drug, Aduhelm, Up To Medicare

A close up of some blue and yellow cells


Despite a recent price drop of roughly 50% for Aduhelm, the new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, it is still extremely expensive at $28K per year, and its future now lies in the hands of Medicare.  They will meet this month to decide whether or not the government will cover this infusion drug for senior citizens.  Because the vast majority of prescriptions for this drug are likely to be for those on Medicare, this will be a very important decision for Biogen, the manufacturer of the drug.  Although the FDA has approved the drug, clinical trials showed the drug had significant safety risks and the benefit to patients is unclear.  Therefore, its approval for Medicare reimbursement is anything but a shoe-in.  Medicare almost always approves drugs which have received the stamp of approval of the FDA, but in this case it has not—researchers at Medicare have been studying the drug for over a month.  “It’s truly unprecedented,†James Chambers, a researcher at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts Medical Center, told the Wall Street Journal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/health/aduhelm-alzheimers-medicare.html?campaign_id=4&emc=edit_dk_20220103&instance_id=49255&nl=dealbook&regi_id=52105769&segment_id=78510&te=1&user_id=7052b81671c57203c64c377c7522baa7

Monterey, CA Tips For Warding Off Alzheimer’s Disease

A purple background with the alzheimer 's association logo.


Regular readers of my blog know that both my father and my grandfather had Alzheimer’s disease when they passed away.  It’s a terrible disease for which there is no cure.  However, there are ways that you can try and keep the disease at bay including:

  1. Protect your heart – Four major risk factors directly relate to heart health: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and smoking.  Work towards keeping blood pressure and cholesterol low by eating a healthy diet.
  2. Exercise – According to Dr. Richard Isaacson, this can be the brain’s first defense against amyloid plaque. Try and get at least thirty minutes of exercise per day.
  3. Stay Socially and mentally active – Getting together with family and friends can be difficult during the COVID pandemic, but getting social stimulation is important, even if you have to do it over a zoom call.
  4. Avoid head injury – This is easier said than done, but studies have found that even mild head trauma can result in dementia. Wear a seatbelt, play sports safely and treat any head injury immediately.
  5. Treat depression, hearing loss, and substance abuse – Excessive alcohol consumption, hearing loss and depression all increase the risk for dementia.

Source: American Brain Foundation and Brain Life, the Academy of Neurology’s patient and caregiver magazine and website.

 

If you or a family member are struggling with Alzheimer’s disease or some other type of dementia, go talk to the good folks at the Alzheimer’s Association’s Monterey Chapter in Ryan Ranch.  They also have a 24-hour hotline you can call at 1800-272-3900.

Price Slashed For New Alzheimer’s Drug

A doctor and patient looking at a book


Biogen Inc. made a dramatic price cut on its new Alzheimer’s disease treatment called Aduhelm after the product launch got off to a slow start.  It’s still expensive, even after the company cut the price of the drug almost in half, from a $56K annual cost to $28K.  Aduhelm is the first new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in almost too decades.  “Too many patients are not being offered the choice of Aduhelm due to financial considerations and are thus progressing beyond the point of benefitting from the first treatment to address an underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease,†said Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos.

High Heart Rate May Signal High Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease Or Dementia

A man in a wheelchair with a woman wearing gloves.


A new study out of Sweden found that checking a senior’s resting heart rate may help identify those who are more likely to experience a decline in mental function. On average, those with a resting heart rate of 80 beats or more per minute had an average 55% higher risk of dementia than those with a heart rate of 60 to 69 beats per minute. “We believe it would be valuable to explore if resting heart rate could identify patients with high dementia risk,†said Dr. Yume Imahori, lead author of the study from the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He believes that early intervention may help delay the onset of dementia which can have a substantial impact on their quality of life.

https://consumer.healthday.com/b-12-6-high-heart-rate-linked-to-dementia-risk-2655910490.html?WT.mc_id=enews2021_12_08&utm_source=enews-aff-20&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews-2021-12-08&utm_content=homeoffice&utm_term=Story2