Aging

On average, happiness declines as we approach middle age, bottoming out in our 40s but then picking back up as we head into retirement, according to a number of studies. This so-called U-shaped curve of happiness is reassuring but, unfortunately, probably not true. My analysis of data from the European Social Survey shows that, for many people, happiness actually decreases during old age as people face age-related difficulties, such as declining health and family bereavement. The U-shaped pattern was not evident for almost half of the 30 countries I investigated. So why the difference?…

The standing desk fad, and disastrous future outcomes for those who followed it, happened because epidemiologists correlated sitting and 'higher risk' of death. Obviously there is a 100 percent chance of dying but correlation looks for rows of behaviors, like eating cilantro or skydiving, and disease outcomes. Find enough correlation and you can declare statistical significance. Unfortunately, you can even do that with coin flips to show coins are prejudiced against landing on heads. Or tails. It is why meat and coffee are linked to both causing and preventing cancer. It is certainly why such…

Obesity is correlated to risk for breast cancer after menopause and new study suggests that this adiposity is related to the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). It is only an observational study, in the exploratory section and not causal, but the authors say their examination of  hormone levels from samples stored in a Women’s Health Initiative biobank is the largest study of its kind in older women. A hormone released by the pituitary gland, FSH plays an important role in female development and reproduction by stimulating growth of the ovarian follicle before ovulation. “Interestingly,…

If you want to find the demographic that most likely thinks chiropractors, massages, meditation, and yoga are medicine, find middle-aged women in a rich country.  They just don't mention it to their doctors, even though physicians ask what else they are doing or taking, including things like supplements.  New survey results show alternatives to medicine are embraced by women and people in middle age than men or senior citizens - but only 18 percent mention it to their doctors. It may be because of stigma. No matter that folk medicine has been rebranded to traditional medicine and…

An analysis of 5,329 patients across the U.S. who died from medical aid in the 23 years after Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide and predictably found one demographic dominates the group: well-educated, wealthy people with cancer.  If they are not in a state that allows it, they have the money to travel and to incur the cost of the drugs needed for voluntary euthanasia, which are not covered by insurance. The results: More than 72 percent of patients who died with medical aid had college experience, more than 95 percent were non-Hispanic whites, and nearly 75…

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 81 countries, rich and poor, mostly do poorly on how well their health systems provide for the physical and mental wellbeing of patients at the end of life. The survey of end-of-life care showed only six countries earned grades of A, while 36 earned Ds or Fs. The United Kingdom and its nationalized health care is often criticized for treatment delays or panels that determine what care someone should receive, but when it comes to death they ranked first. Ireland, Taiwan, Australia, South Korea and Costa Rica also earned A's in what 181 palliative care…

You may not want to hear the same song over and over, but for patients with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease, repeated listening to personally meaningful music induces beneficial brain plasticity, according to a new study. It found that changes in the brain’s neural pathways correlated with increased memory performance on neuropsychological tests, supporting the clinical potential of personalized, music-based interventions for people with dementia. For the study, 14 participants—eight non-musicians and six musicians—listened to a curated playlist of…

How powerful are the genes that make up our bodies? The Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research notes that as many as half of our traits may be inherited from our genes. Additionally, those double-helix DNA strands are responsible for all the proteins that are necessary for life. However, the is a limit to how essential understanding one's genetics is for a human being. A recent paper published in the journal PLOS Genetics suggests that as individuals get older, they may be more susceptible to illness because of their age, not their genetic makeup. A Rollercoaster of Genetics From the…

In 2019, Biogen announced that it was abandoning its late stage drug for Alzheimer’s, aducanumab but then in 2021 they got FDA approval for it. Is the Biden administration in cahoots with Big Pharma while Trump was not? No. To the FDA, the reasoning was solid. One phase 3 trial succeeded, showing a reduction in the clinical decline standard that defines Alzheimer's, while the second of the two phase 3 trials did not. Both showed reduced amyloid plaques in the brain in dose- and time-dependent fashion. FDA made a decision. A reduction in amyloid plaque should mean reduction in clinical decline…

The popular belief is that sexual activity must have declined during the pandemic, but that relies on the trope that young people go to bars and sleep with strangers and that lessened. Some people were instead getting busy during the pandemic more than ever before. Older men with erectile dysfunction prescriptions. The qualifier "prescriptions" is because the number of men using them dwarfs the cases of actual erectile problems, the pill just makes it better. In a review of National Sales Perspective data, the researchers found that sales of prescription daily-use erectile dysfunction drugs,…