Genworth cautions that every day until 2030, approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65. Furthermore, current data models show that seven out of 10 people will require long-term care in their lifetime. The cost of that care varies based on care setting and level of care required, among other things. Using Genworth's Cost of Care Survey tool embedded in the linked article, households can calculate the cost of long-term care across the United States. Genworth has tracked the cost of care nationwide for the past 16 years to help families understand such costs. Since 2004, the Cost of Care Survey has become the foundation for many Americans' long term care planning. Not surprisingly, the cost of all types of care has steadily risen over the past 16 years — from home services to nursing care.

The U.S. government has funded nine "LGBTQ-friendly" affordable senior housing communities over the past decade, reports NBC News . These communities are devoted to creating an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere for older LGBTQ adults. Their strategies for promoting openness includes informing prospective residents that the building or complex is LGBTQ-friendly, hosting onsite events that serve local LGBTQ nonprofits, and holding meetings or support groups for LGBTQ organizations. A Pew Research Center survey found Americans born between 1928 and 1945 are significantly less accepting of LGBTQ people than those from later generations. Another study in the International Journal of Aging and Human Development determined LGBTQ adults ages 80 and up have higher disability rates, a greater likelihood of developing chronic diseases, and more susceptibility to psychological and mental health disparities than their non-LGBTQ peers. "As their support system gets smaller, it leaves them at risk, because they have no safety net," noted study author Karen Fredriksen Goldsen. LGBTQ affordable housing proponent Mark Segal said the push for such housing communities should intensify nationwide, with roughly 12 new communities currently in the planning stages.

A global survey by Alzheimer's Disease International found 38 percent of respondents living with dementia in high-income countries, including the United States, feel avoided, ignored, and abandoned by former friends, reports the Wall Street Journal . "People tend to run when they learn you have dementia," said one respondent. Such reactions partly mirror a lack of understanding of the many stages and types of dementia. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that a person with Alzheimer's lives an average four to eight years after diagnosis, but can live as long as two decades. For those looking to be a better friend to someone living with dementia, suggestions include: educate yourself; ask what they are comfortable doing and what they need help with; talk directly to the person, not to their spouse or partner; don't correct or argue if they say something that isn't accurate; don't ask a series of questions, which can be confusing; and if going out, avoid loud, crowded places.

Researchers at Yale-NUS College in Singapore claim to have uncovered evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is a primary cause of Alzheimer's, reports Gene Engineering News . Their study published in eLife determined metabolic defects occur well before any significant growth in the amount of amyloid-beta protein can be identified. The researchers used C. elegans to spot these changes, and learned that treating the worms with the diabetes drug Metformin reversed these defects and normalized their health and lifespan. "These defects were associated with elevation of protein carbonyl content specifically in mitochondria," noted Yale-NUS Professor Jan Gruber. "Importantly, metabolic failure occurred before any significant increase in global protein aggregate was detectable." Gruber also suggested the results "point to metabolic dysfunction as an early and causative event in Aß-induced pathology and a promising target for intervention." He added that metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunctions should be considered fundamental signs of aging overall, and age-dependent diseases like Alzheimer's should be perceived as manifestations of aging. It may therefore be easier to prevent or treat such maladies by targeting the mechanisms of aging rather than individual diseases after symptoms appear.

Baby boomers' expectations and life requirements are driving technology companies to improve hearing aids and related assistive devices, reports MobiHealthNews . "Boomers are the largest consumer of healthcare services, and they are very avid consumers of healthcare information and seek out information themselves," explained Eargo founder Daniel Shen at the Connected Health Conference last week in Boston. "They approach the healthcare providers with greater initiative than older generations. What that means is from a medical device or solution standpoint, they are a very important generation and they may be able to seek out their own sources of information and not just from their doctors." Hearing technology is not covered by Medicare, which can add difficulty for hearing-impaired seniors. Shen added that hearing tech has remained somewhat unchanged for a long time, but boomers' familiarity with tech, consumer mentality, and specific needs are impelling the push for new devices. "Designers have to keep in mind there may be limitations in terms of the hearing, vision, and dexterity of this population," he said. "That is where you can often see a divide between the consumer products that we love and what is commonly seen as consumer health products for the aging population, which by contrast can often feel dull or stigmatized."

EIT Digital is supporting a robot to complement senior care in nursing communities, reports Medical Device Network . The prototype Social & Autonomous Robotic health Assistant (SARA) Home system can be accessed through a computer or tablet, so nurses and caregivers can avail themselves of a personalized profile and health plan for each resident they look after. SARA is being employed in two pilots in Finland and the Netherlands, concentrating on seniors in closed psychiatric departments who have first-stage dementia. The robot could help ease caregivers' workload by engaging with residents and presenting them with exercises designed to improve their condition. EIT Digital hopes this will reduce safety incidents, including medication errors that 13.8 percent of nurses deal with every week. "We believe that robots could give a great contribution to healthcare, not to replace nurses, but to collaborate with them and reduce their workload, so they have more time to spend with residents," said Bright Cape data scientist Emmy Rintjema. "They might also help reduce the errors due to high-time pressure."

Amazon has just completed its second major acquisition in the health-care sector, confirms CNBC News , purchasing a start-up called Health Navigator for an undisclosed sum. Health Navigator, which specializes in providing technology and services to digital health companies, will join the online retail giant's newly launched Amazon Care group. Amazon Care is being touted as a medical benefit for Amazon employees and helps provide care virtually, via live chats and video visits, and with home visits from a registered nurse if follow-up care is required. Last year, Amazon acquired PillPack for $753 million to expand into the online pharmacy market.

A University of Michigan (U-M) study in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society found roughly 15 percent of hospitalized older adults will return to the hospital within a month of leaving, with a disproportionately high number rehospitalized for pre-existing, or linked infections, reports ScienceDaily . Moreover, those sent home or to home care were more likely to come back with a linked infection than those sent to skilled nursing communities. The researchers analyzed Medicare records for more than 318,000 hospital discharges for persons 65 and older, and 2.5 percent of hospitalized older adults return due to linked infections. The most common infection was Clostridioides difficile, a potentially fatal bacteria that causes diarrhea and colitis, followed by urinary tract infections. "Presumably subjects have been treated for the infection since the hospital has already billed Medicare," said U-M Professor Geoffrey Hoffman. "Readmissions shouldn't be zero, but they should be much closer to zero." Hoffman added that the population with the same diagnosis at rehospitalization and discharge is very narrow, so the number will by default be much smaller than general hospital returns or returns for complex conditions. "There are probably some gaps in self-care for persons going home with an infection from the hospital," he said. "This suggests home healthcare agencies aren't up to snuff with infection control and persons going home without home health-care probably need better training, as do their caregivers."

A study published in Neurology suggests consumption of processed foods heavy in trans fat increases the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's, reports the International Business Times . The researchers found higher levels of trans fat in a person's blood can elevate their chances of developing dementia or Alzheimer's later in life by 52 percent to 74 percent. The team monitored 1,628 Japanese adults 60 and older for a decade, and none had dementia at the start of the study. Each subject's serum elaidic acid levels were measured, and the population was split into four groups, depending on the industrial trans fat levels in their blood. The team found a strong association between consumption of industrialized trans fat and dementia risk, with 377 participants receiving a dementia diagnosis at the end of the follow-up period. "These results give us even more reason to avoid trans fats," said Kyushu University's Toshiharu Ninomiya.

A study in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society found older adults with asthma or concurrent asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — but not COPD alone — are less likely to go into the hospital for obstructive lung disease if they take an inhaled corticosteroid, reports Pulmonology Consultant . The researchers analyzed data on persons 66 or older from Ontario who satisfied a validated case definition of physician-diagnosed COPD and/or asthma between 2003 and 2014. All participants were administered a new inhaled corticosteroid. Twenty-seven percent of the 87,690 participants with asthma had concurrent COPD, while 25 percent of the 150,593 individuals with COPD had concurrent asthma. Inhaled corticosteroids were tied to fewer hospitalizations for obstructive lung disease in those with asthma alone, and concurrent COPD attenuated this benefit. A similar connection was noted in persons with both COPD and asthma, but not in those with COPD alone. Moreover, subjects with COPD only had a marginally higher risk of hospitalization for pneumonia with their receipt of inhaled corticosteroids — an association not observed in the other cohorts.