BWH Researchers Identify Loneliness as a Potential Risk Factor for Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease

According to researchers at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital (BWH), loneliness among older adults might be an early sign of brain changes involved in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. 鈥淲e set out to ask whether higher cortical amyloid burden, a marker of preclinical Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, was associated with greater self-reported loneliness in older adults with normal cognition. We thought loneliness might be an early signal of this abnormal protein accumulation, because in epidemiologic studies people who are lonely have accelerated cognitive decline,鈥� said study leader Nancy J. Donovan, MD, a psychiatrist in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology. Read more.

Diabetes Experts Shape New Guidelines and Introduce Novel Approaches in Precision Medicine to Optimize Care for Complex Disease

Specialists in the Diabetes Program at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital (BWH) are informing new guidelines and leading studies in personalized treatment approaches to improve care for patients with diabetes, especially older patients with complex conditions. 鈥淲ith the rapid increase of the prevalence of diabetes, including Type 1 diabetes, in the older adult population, there is a global effort to reevaluate how we care for these patients,鈥� said Marie E. McDonnell, MD, Director of the Diabetes Program. Read more.

Improved Outcomes Seen among Older Trauma Patients Receiving Geriatric Consultations

Trauma surgeons at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital (BWH) implemented mandatory geriatric consultations for all trauma patients 70 years-of-age or older who are admitted to BWH, beginning in September 2013. They recently compared data from 215 patients admitted from June 2011 through June 2012 (preintervention) with data from 191 patients admitted from October 2013 through September 2014 (postintervention) in a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons earlier this year (J Am Coll Surg. 2016 Mar 3. pii: S1072-7515(16)00045-4.). Read more.