Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions of aging, affecting nearly two-thirds of older adults over the age of 70, but it’s not just a matter of diminished hearing. Hearing loss can contribute to poor psychosocial outcomes for patients including loneliness, depression, and social isolation. New research also shows that hearing loss is linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. In fact, the 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care identified hearing loss as one of 14 modifiable risk factors for dementia. According to the commission, treating hearing loss could prevent up to 7% of dementia cases globally, making it one of the most impactful areas for potential prevention. This raises the question of whether use of hearing aids in people with hearing loss can reduce or mitigate this increased dementia risk.

To help us understand these connections and the latest research in this area, we are joined today by Dr. Alison Huang, an epidemiologist and Senior Research Associate from the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health. Her research studies the impact of sensory loss on cognitive and mental health in older adults. Dr. Huang was an author of the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study, a large, multicenter randomized controlled trial that tested whether treating hearing loss in older adults could help slow cognitive decline published in the Lancet.

Alison Huang, PhD, MPH

Link to article:

Lin FR, Pike JR, Albert MS, Arnold M, Burgard S, Chisolm T, Couper D, Deal JA, Goman AM, Glynn NW, Gmelin T, Gravens-Mueller L, Hayden KM, Huang AR, Knopman D, Mitchell CM, Mosley T, Pankow JS, Reed NS, Sanchez V, Schrack JA, Windham BG, Coresh J; ACHIEVE Collaborative Research Group. Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2023 Sep 2;402(10404):786-797. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X. Epub 2023 Jul 18. PMID: 37478886; PMCID: PMC10529382.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

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In this episode Matt and Lauren will speak with Dr. Marcia Pescador Jimenez, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University whose research focuses on understanding the relationship between exposure to green space and health outcomes (including hypertension and cognitive measures). Emerging research has shown that midlife risk factors may delay or even prevent the onset of dementia later in life - among these include physical activity and social interaction. It’s not a stretch to imagine how a person’s environment may impact behaviors such as physical activity. For instance, there are places that lack sidewalks and parks that make exercising exceedingly difficult. Among environmental epidemiologists, there is growing interest in understanding how the built and natural environment influence our behaviors that, in turn, influence our health.

We encourage you to listen to this episode while on a walk outside!

Dr. Marcia Pescador Jimenez Faculty Profile

Article Referenced in Podcast:

Pescador Jimenez M, Wagner M, Laden F, Hart JE, Grodstein F, James P. Midlife Residential Greenness and Late-Life Cognitive Decline among Nurses' Health Study Participants. Environ Health Perspect. 2024 Jul;132(7):77003. doi: 10.1289/EHP13588. Epub 2024 Jul 17. PMID: 39016600; PMCID: PMC11253812.

Nurses’ Health Study

The social engagement scale that was referenced in the podcast is called the “Berkman-Syme Social Network Index”

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

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While memory loss is generally thought of as the hallmark of dementia, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia like agitation, aggression, anxiety, and hallucinations are nearly universal, affecting almost all patients with advanced dementia. These behavioral disturbances are often the trigger for nursing home placement, and they can be highly distressing for both patients and their care partners. In today’s episode, Matt and Lauren speak with Dr. Ellen McCreedy, a researcher from the Brown School of Public Health who has conducted a study of personalized music intervention called Music & Memory for people living with dementia in nursing homes. Dr. McCreedy is a gerontologist and health services researcher who focuses on evaluation of non-pharmacologic interventions for managing behavioral disturbances of people living with dementia.

Ellen McCreedy, PhD, MPH Faculty Profile

Articles from Episode:

Sisti A, Gutman R, Mor V, Dionne L, Rudolph JL, Baier RR, McCreedy EM. Using Structured Observations to Evaluate the Effects of a Personalized Music Intervention on Agitated Behaviors and Mood in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: Results From an Embedded, Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;32(3):300-311. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.10.016. Epub 2023 Nov 2. PMID: 37973488; PMCID: PMC10922136.

McCreedy EM, Gutman R, Baier R, Rudolph JL, Thomas KS, Dvorchak F, Uth R, Ogarek J, Mor V. Measuring the effects of a personalized music intervention on agitated behaviors among nursing home residents with dementia: design features for cluster-randomized adaptive trial. Trials. 2021 Oct 7;22(1):681. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05620-y. PMID: 34620193; PMCID: PMC8496617.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Matt & Lauren speak with Dr. Lianlian Lei, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. Dr. Lei discusses a recent study that looks at the impact of partner’s plan choice on the likelihood of Medicare Advantage disenrollment and how that may impact older adults living with dementia. Unlike traditional Medicare that's administered by the federal government, Medicare Advantage are healthcare plans that are administered by private health insurance companies. These plans can vary a lot and typically cover additional services not covered by traditional Medicare. Navigating the various plan options can be a challenge for older adults, and it's not uncommon for individuals to change plans depending on their current needs.

Dr. Lianlian Lei Faculty Profile

Article from Episode: Lei L, Levy H, Ankuda C, Hoffman GJ, Kim HM, Strominger J, Maust DT. Partner Plan Choices and Medicare Advantage Enrollment Decisions Among Older Adults. JAMA. 2024 Mar 20:e241773. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.1773. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38506841; PMCID: PMC10955388.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Lauren and Matt talk with Leah Richmond-Rakerd, PhD who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on emotional and behavioral dysregulation across the life course. Here, Dr. Richmond-Rakerd will discuss her recent study on “The Associations of Hospital-Treated Infections with Subsequent Dementia: Nationwide 30-year Analysis” that was published in Nature Aging.

Articles Discussed in Episode:

Richmond-Rakerd LS, Iyer MT, D'Souza S, Khalifeh L, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Milne BJ. Associations of hospital-treated infections with subsequent dementia: nationwide 30-year analysis. Nat Aging. 2024 Jun;4(6):783-790. doi: 10.1038/s43587-024-00621-3. Epub 2024 May 7. PMID: 38714911.

Milne BJ, Atkinson J, Blakely T, Day H, Douwes J, Gibb S, Nicolson M, Shackleton N, Sporle A, Teng A. Data Resource Profile: The New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Int J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 1;48(3):677-677e. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyz014. Erratum in: Int J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 1;48(3):1027. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyz054. PMID: 30793742.

NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure: https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/integrated-data-infrastructure/

Visit the Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer's (CAPRA) website to learn more.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season 4 of Minding Memory, where we are welcoming a new co-host, Lauren Gerlach to the Minding Memory team. Lauren is a Geriatric Psychiatrist at the University of Michigan and a member of the CAPRA leadership team. In this episode, Lauren shares a little background on her research interests, what it’s like to be a geriatric psychiatrist, and some lessons learned about using “uncool” emoticons or emojis when texting.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Matt and Donovan talk with Dr. Jason H. Moore, Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education (CAIRE) and Chair of the Department of Computational Biomedicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Jason discusses the coming impact of artificial intelligence on a spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) issues. We discuss how tools such as AI-powered chatbots may improve quality of life for people living with dementia (and their caregivers) and how AI may contribute in the future to diagnosis and treatment. 

Faculty Bio: https://researchers.cedars-sinai.edu/Jason.Moore  

Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education (CAIRE): https://www.cedars-sinai.edu/research/areas/caire.html  

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

CAPRA Website: http://capra.med.umich.edu/ 

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Minding Memory, Matt & Donovan speak with Dr. Joanne Spetz, the Brenda and Jeffrey L. Kang Presidential Chair in Healthcare Finance and Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Joanne talks with Matt & Donovan about who makes up the professional workforce of people who provide dementia care and how these individuals play a critical role in the delivery of services. Joanne also discusses how different professional roles interact across setting of care. Lastly, Joanne introduces a new study she is working on with Donovan called the National Dementia Workforce Study (NDWS) that will be surveying a large group of clinicians who provide care for people living with dementia. 

Faculty Bio: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/joanne.spetz   

Article Referenced in Podcast:   

Candon M, Bergman A, Rose A, Song H, David G, Spetz J. The Relationship Between Scope of Practice Laws for Task Delegation and Nurse Turnover in Home Health. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2023 Nov;24(11):1773-1778.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.07.023. Epub 2023 Aug 24. PMID: 37634547; PMCID: PMC10735229. 

Previous Minding Memory Episodes on Dementia & Family Caregiving:  

S1Ep9: Caregiving for individuals with Dementia (with Amanda Leggett) 

S1Ep10: What is it like to be a Caregiver for a Person Living with Dementia? (with Peggy Arden) 

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

CAPRA Website: http://capra.med.umich.edu/ 

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.