Elizabeth Agnvall
Retail prices for more than 100 widely used specialty prescription drugs surged by nearly 11 percent in 2013, according to a new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) report issued today. The report found that the average annual cost of a specialty medication used to treat chronic diseases and…
The Institute of Medicine today released a groundbreaking new report that spells out what older Americans can do to keep their brains healthy into very old age, while offering insight into the lifestyle habits and medications that can lead to cognitive decline.
You may want to check your medicine cabinet after reading this.
A gossip website has attributed actor Robin Williams’ suicide to Lewy body dementia, a devastating disease that affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans, most of them men over age 60. Sources told TMZ that Williams’ doctors agree that the dementia was a “key factor” that drove him to suicide,…
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John Odom is looking forward to walking into Boston Medical Center this week for a memorial honoring survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. After all, when he left the hospital last May, the doctors and nurses weren't sure he would ever walk again.
Should older adults be routinely screened for Alzheimer's disease or memory problems? Maybe, maybe not. A government panel says there's not yet enough data to recommend either for or against it. The panel's uncertainty reflects the complexity of the issue at a time when scientists are progressing…
The next time you find yourself asking for an antibiotic to treat a nasty cough or sinus infection - or accepting one when your doctor offers it - consider this: Doctors are overprescribing antibiotics and putting patients at risk, sometimes giving patients three times as many antibiotics as are…
Alzheimer's disease may cause up to six times more deaths than previously reported, making it the third leading cause of death in the country, just behind heart disease and cancer. The disease kills as many as half a million people each year, according to a new study published in the journal…
Older women have a higher risk of stroke than men and should strive to reduce that risk, say the first guidelines aimed specifically at preventing stroke in women.
We haven't discovered a cure for Alzheimer's, or a drug that reverses the ravages of the disease, but researchers may have found a treatment to slow disease progression that's simple, cheap and safe.