A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed the answers to a questionnaire taken by 440,000 adolescent students in 1960 are finding use in the current scientific battle against Alzheimer's disease, reports the Washington Post . Subjects who performed well on test questions as teenagers exhibited a lower incidence of Alzheimer's and related dementias in their 60s and 70s than those who scored poorly. The test, intended to identify students with aptitudes for science and engineering, asked them questions about academics and general knowledge, along with their home lives, health, aspirations, and personality traits. Researchers at the American Institutes for Research compared the results for more than 85,000 test-takers with their 2012-2013 Medicare claims and expenditures data, and found that warning signs for dementia may be detectable as early as adolescence. The team examined how students scored on 17 areas of cognitive ability, finding people with lower scores as teenagers were more prone to getting Alzheimer's and related dementias in their 60s and early 70s. Persons with lower mechanical reasoning and memory for words as teens had a higher probability of developing dementia in later life, with men in the lower-scoring half 17 percent more likely and women with lower scores 16 percent more likely.

A poll of about 2,500 adults by the AARP Public Policy Institute found three out of four employees were interested in a hypothetical payroll deduction that would hold employees' savings for withdrawal at any time without penalty, reports InvestmentNews . Financial stress and trust in the employer were cited as the chief motivators for participation, as opposed to income, age, or gender. According to the survey, an employer match would make 87 percent of workers more likely to participate. The program would automatically enroll employees and "nudge" them to save. The Federal Reserve estimated that four in 10 American households would be unable to come up with $400 in the event of a financial emergency. The AARP poll determined more than half of U.S. employers that do not offer financial wellness programs are uncertain of their value, while 26 percent of employees said they already save on their own. Also raised were issues about whether an emergency savings program would be necessary for workers who already set aside a portion of their paycheck, or might cut into a list of financial priorities such as planning for retirement or college. Experts said the program's effectiveness would be highly individual to the employee, and is likely more useful to workers for whom debt is not an issue.

Older individuals who live in senior housing communities are less likely to have high levels of hospitalization, according to a study published in The Gerontologist and cited by Newswise . "Our findings suggest that the positive effects from the various support services available in the senior housing environment accrue over time in helping vulnerable seniors better manage their health conditions," said Sojung Park, an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and lead author of the study. The study focused on vulnerable seniors — those with moderate or low incomes who live alone — and examined to what extent a senior housing environment might moderate the effects of multiple chronic conditions on hospitalization over time. It showed that vulnerable older adults with multiple chronic conditions were more likely to be hospitalized at both moderate and heavy levels at baseline. However, older individuals with those conditions who lived in a senior housing environment had few hospitalizations over time.

About a million poll workers will participate on Election Day, reports Next Avenue . Many jurisdictions are still looking for people who would be willing to join the volunteers who assist their neighbors through the voting process. People 60 and over have traditionally answered the call to serve on Election Day in large numbers. According to the nonpartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, in 2016 more than half of the nation's poll worker population was over 60, with 32 percent of them aged 61-70 and another 24 percent aged 71 or older.

Regular bedtime and waketime are important for heart and metabolic health among older adults, according to a study published in Scientific Reports and cited by EurekAlert! . Researchers found people with irregular sleep patterns weighed more, had higher blood sugar, higher blood pressure, and a higher projected risk of having a heart attack or stroke within 10 years than those who slept and woke at the same times every day. Irregular sleepers were also more likely to report depression and stress than regular sleepers, both of which are tied to heart health.

Light to moderate physical activity, such as walking and swimming, could reduce the severity of strokes, according to a study published in Neurology . The study of nearly 1,000 individuals who had had a stroke found that those who had been doing four hours per week of light activity or two to three hours per week of moderate activity had less severe strokes than those who had not been exercising, reports Medical News Today . The researchers defined light activity as walking at a normal pace and moderate activity as brisk walking, swimming, or running. The analysis revealed that those whose physical activity levels were light to moderate in the period leading up to their stroke had double the chance of having a mild stroke compared with those who were inactive. Of the 59 people whose physical activity levels in the period before their stroke were moderate, 89 percent had a mild stroke. Of the 384 people whose physical activity level was light, 85 percent had a mild stroke. Of the 481 who were inactive, 73 percent had a mild stroke.

The share of Americans with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias is expected to more than double by 2060 as people increasingly survive into older adulthood, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 5 million older adults had Alzheimer's or a related dementia in 2014, and by 2060 that figure is expected to rise to 13.9 million, or about 3.3 percent of the U.S. population, reports U.S. News & World Report . The report highlights racial and ethnic disparities among those who develop dementia. Among adults 65 and older, an estimated 13.8 percent of black Americans had Alzheimer's or another form of dementia in 2014, compared with 12.2 percent of Hispanics, 10.3 percent of whites, and 8.4 percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders.

For older adults with dementia, natural disasters can be particularly terrifying. No matter whether they evacuate or stay put, storms can bring added confusion, disorientation, anxiety, and paranoia. "People with dementia function best when they are in their usual environment and their usual routine," said Ruth Drew, director of information and support services at the Alzheimer's Association, which has posted guidelines for families dealing with disasters. "When there's a lot of chaos and hubbub, when people are rushing around and tense, that can be very overstimulating and anxiety-provoking." When people with dementia "feel anxious, rushed, and hurried, often they shut down. They have a harder time cooperating with a person," Drew said. They respond to that anxiety in various ways — crying, arguing, fighting, wandering or walking away. Kaiser Health News tells some of the stories that came out of the Carolinas during Hurricane Florence.

September 22, 2018, the first day of fall, marks the 10th annual National Falls Prevention Awareness Day (FPAD), sponsored by the National Council on Aging (NCOA). The annual event raises awareness about how to prevent fall-related injuries among older adults. Partners collaborate to educate others about the impact of falls, share fall prevention strategies, and advocate for the expansion of evidence-based community fall prevention programs. National and state efforts are published in NCOA's annual FPAD Impact Report . Click here for more information on how to engage in FPAD 2018.

Employers are boosting benefits—including bonuses and vacation time—at a faster pace than salaries, reports the Wall Street Journal (18 September, Chen, Morath). The cost of benefits for private-sector employers rose 3 percent in June from a year earlier, while the cost of wages and salaries advanced 2.7 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The benefit gain was driven by a nearly 12 percent increase in bonuses and other forms of supplemental pay. Paid leave, including vacation time, rose 4 percent in June from a year earlier. The trend extends a long-running but slow shift in compensation toward benefits and away from baseline salaries. The increase in bonus compensation in part reflects lump-sum payments that many large companies gave employees after Congress approved a package of tax cuts late last year. "Bonuses and supplemental pay speak to labor market conditions, and workers are in a good spot to get a little more," said Ryan Sutton, a district president for Robert Half. "Companies are still reluctant to move base wages up too much. It's a lot harder to take that away than bonuses."