Dementia & Alzheimer's
Memory was the most damaged ability in 33 NFL players whose CTE was confirmed at autopsy
The disease behind the football concussion debate can still only be identified after death. Testing 33 former players while they lived, then examining their brains, produced the clearest profile yet.
Sep 8, 2026
Angiotensin receptor blockers tracked 8% less dementia than calcium channel blockers
If a blood pressure drug protects the brain, the obvious explanation is the blood pressure. Emulating a trial across 52,019 older Japanese adults, one class tracked less dementia than another despite both reaching the same pressure.
Sep 2, 2026
Hearing loss tracked worse memory and smaller brain regions; tinnitus tracked neither
Hearing loss is on every list of things that raise dementia risk, and the usual explanation is a brain starved of sound. Scanning 2,144 German adults found the damage sitting partly in the blood vessels instead.
Sep 2, 2026
Blood sodium in the upper normal range tracked up to 3 times the dementia risk
About half of adults do not drink enough, and blood sodium creeps up when they do not. Across 409,000 people followed for up to 30 years, dementia risk began climbing at levels a doctor would read as perfectly normal.
Sep 1, 2026
Shingles that reached the eye tracked 37% more dementia than shingles elsewhere
Shingles has been tied to dementia, but not every case is the same. Across 71 US health systems, cases reaching the eye carried more dementia within three years, and prior vaccination tracked less of it in both groups.
Sep 1, 2026
Pairing a statin with certain blood pressure drugs tracked 12% less dementia over 12 years
Millions take a statin and a blood pressure pill together, and nobody has established which pairing is best. Following 34,610 Australians for a mean 12 years, one combination went with less dementia, in the direction few would have guessed.
Sep 1, 2026
High-intensity statins after stroke tracked slightly less dementia across 206,416 survivors
Stroke survivors face high dementia risk, and statins have long carried a reputation for harming memory. Matching 206,416 US patients, the stronger dose went with slightly less dementia rather than more: 6.6% against 6.9% over five years.
Sep 1, 2026
Women who used estrogen-only hormone therapy had less Alzheimer's damage in 2,959 autopsied brains
Hormone therapy and dementia have been argued about for 25 years, mostly from questionnaires. A Neurology team went to the tissue instead, and found lower odds of Alzheimer's pathology at autopsy among women who had used estrogen.
Aug 30, 2026
Falling blood pressure tracked with memory loss in women
Following 4,719 older adults for about nine years, researchers found that when blood pressure drifted down, thinking scores fell alongside it in women. In men there was no such link at all.
Aug 4, 2026
Swinging mood predicted dementia better than low mood
Following 11,951 older adults for up to 19 years, researchers found that fluctuating depressive symptoms predicted later cognitive impairment better than how depressed someone was at any single visit.
Aug 4, 2026
A midlife blood marker tracked dementia 25 years ahead
Across several cohorts, a protein called GDF15 measured in midlife lined up with dementia risk 15 to 25 years later. The link was stronger for vascular dementia than for Alzheimer's disease.
Aug 4, 2026
Blood pressure that swings tracked with faster memory loss
Pooling 11,104 participants from two major blood pressure trials, researchers in Alzheimer's & Dementia found that how much systolic pressure moved between visits tracked with cognitive decline, independently of the average.
Aug 3, 2026
Spouses of people with dementia had 1.7 times the risk
A JAMA Network Open study of 955,105 married adults in Taiwan found that people whose partner developed dementia went on to develop it more often themselves, though the extra risk over five years was about three percentage points.
Aug 3, 2026
Medicare wellness visits raised early memory diagnoses by 28%
Researchers matched 66,443 pairs of Texas Medicare patients. Those who took the free annual wellness visit were far likelier to have mild cognitive impairment caught.
Jul 31, 2026
A blood test told three dementias apart, not just detected one
A Nature Aging study of 1,318 plasma samples found protein signatures separating Alzheimer's from Lewy body and frontotemporal dementia, then validated a 21-protein panel in 805 more.
Jul 29, 2026
A brain structure few have heard of tracked with dementia
A Molecular Psychiatry study of 45,306 UK Biobank brain scans found a larger choroid plexus tracked with 61% higher dementia risk, and a brighter one with much lower risk.
Jul 29, 2026
Mental illness before 35 tracked with dementia after 50
A Molecular Psychiatry study of 2.5 million Swedes compared siblings and found the dementia link runs through a general vulnerability to psychiatric illness, not any one diagnosis.
Jul 28, 2026
Dementia deaths peak in the suburbs, not the city or country
A JAMA Network Open study following 40.9 million people in England found dementia mortality highest at middle population density, and neighborhood conditions explained most of the gap.
Jul 27, 2026
Nearly 4 in 10 dementia cases tied to modifiable risk factors
A Lancet Public Health study of 1.75 million Danes put 37.8% of dementia down to 16 modifiable risk factors, with infections and depression topping the list, not the usual suspects.
Jul 26, 2026
Diet tracked with dementia risk despite Alzheimer's markers
A JAMA Network Open study of 1,865 older Swedes found an anti-inflammatory diet was linked to lower dementia risk even in people whose blood already showed Alzheimer's disease markers.
Jul 25, 2026
TV watching, not desk work, tracked with smaller brain regions
A study in Alzheimer's & Dementia followed 1,712 adults from midlife to brain scans decades later and found frequent TV watching tracked with smaller memory-related brain regions, while sitting at work did not.
Jul 25, 2026
p-tau217 blood test estimated 5-year Alzheimer's risk
Pooling 2,684 older adults with no memory problems from six studies, JAMA reported those with the highest blood p-tau217 had about a 38 percent chance of decline within five years. They were research volunteers, so it may not generalize.
Jul 23, 2026
Exercise twice a week tracked with lower dementia risk
In 9,714 older Americans, those keeping up at least moderate activity - roughly 20 minutes, twice a week or more - were less likely to develop dementia. Less frequent activity showed no clear benefit. It points to a link, not proof.
Jul 21, 2026