A study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association notes elevated blood cholesterol levels can lower the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in people older than 85, reports News-Medical . The researchers studied the association of cholesterol levels and cognitive functions at different age groups, analyzing data from the Framingham Heart Study. They checked the total cholesterol values during the middle years and late years of study participants, as well as the cognitive tests performed at different ages. Outcomes showed higher cholesterol levels since the forties led to a greater cognitive decline as the participant got older, but with age this positive correlation was halted and ultimately reversed. In individuals between 95 and 94 years old for example, having higher cholesterol in their middle years led to a reduced risk of cognitive decline. The team cautions that the study does not recommend heightening one's cholesterol during their forties to lower the risk of cognitive decline, as a positive risk of developing dementia exists among seniors if they have high cholesterol levels during those years. Further high cholesterol levels also lead to a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Mount Sinai Professor Jeremy Silverman believes this study is valuable "for researching genetic and other factors associated with successful cognitive aging."

Many seniors are on limited incomes and have modest savings, with half of all people on Medicare in 2016 having less than $26,200 in income, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation . Current estimates of poverty based on the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) indicate that the share of seniors who are struggling financially is bigger than is communicated by the official poverty measure. Under the SPM, 7.1 million adults 65 and up lived in poverty in 2016 versus 4.6 million under the official poverty measure. In addition, almost 21 million people ages 65 and older had incomes of less than 200 percent of poverty under the SPM in 2016 compared to 15 million under the official measure. Both the official measure and the SPM signaled that the poverty rate among people ages 65 and older rose with age and was higher for women, black people, Hispanics, and individuals in relatively poor health. Under the SPM, 4.4 million senior women lived in poverty in 2016, 1.5 million more than under the official measure. Meanwhile, 2.8 million older men lived in poverty under the SPM, 1.1 million more than under the official measure. Finally, the SPM estimated that at least 15 percent of people ages 65 and older lived in poverty in 10 states and Washington, D.C. in 2016. The official poverty measure held that only D.C. had a poverty rate higher than 15 percent for older adults in 2016.

Older residents are paying a heavy price for the opioid epidemic in North Carolina, with some selling their own prescriptions to finance their upkeep, reports North Carolina Health News . People who work with seniors note opioid-related crimes can include financial fraud and drug theft in places that include long-term care communities. "We've been urging older adults to lock up their medicines," says Triangle J Area Agency on Aging Director Mary Warren. "The person who's likely to help herself to your prescription could be your granddaughter or your caregiver." The Department of Health and Human Services' response to prescription medication misuse has been the federally-funded Lock Your Meds campaign. Widely reported trends indicate a new generation of seniors may be hard up for cash because they never returned to pre-recession salaries, are missing a defined benefit pension, or have low incomes in retirement, which unfortunately does not prevent younger relatives from stealing from them. Even younger abusers who want treatment are vulnerable to "patient brokering," which the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers describes as "an illegal act where an addict, or a lead relating to a prospective addict, is traded to a treatment provider in exchange for money and/or perks." An older family member can end up assuming the cost of this treatment. "Recent reports indicate that individuals known as 'patient brokers' are treating individuals seeking treatment for their opioid addiction as a commodity, rather than helping them receive legitimate treatment and ultimately achieve recovery," notes the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) auditors are aggressively pushing for plan sponsors to attempt to find missing terminated vested participants, creating a movement for more formal guidance and forcing plan executives to pay more scrutiny until it comes, reports Pensions & Investments . "There's enough chatter and confusion that it would be good to have a set of guidelines and best practices," says Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets Executive Director Dennis Simmons. "Our members have every incentive to make sure participants get their benefits." The DOL in 2016 launched a pilot program to address missing participants in the Philadelphia office of its Employee Benefits Security Administration, an effort that has since broadened across the United States. In fiscal 2017, the department recovered $326.7 million for plan participants, and the count is $114.6 million so far in fiscal 2018. The American Benefits Council last fall submitted a letter to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Timothy Hauser requesting formal rule-making on comprehensive guidance for plan fiduciaries, noting its members have confronted "inconsistent and alarming" positions taken by DOL auditors during routine audits. The most complaints to the ERISA Industry Committee are coming from members with the largest defined benefit plans being audited. A DOL spokesperson says "the agency places a priority on consistent actions across our compliance assistance and enforcement activities, and will continue to work with plans and plan sponsors to connect retirees and beneficiaries with their pensions."

The National Emerging Leadership Summit for Health and Aging Services Executives (NELS), to be held July 17-19, 2018 in Washington, D.C., is targeted toward executives and professionals in health and aging services. The Summit aims to increase, improve, and support the profession to attract talented future leaders by giving a voice to the next generation of leaders. Individuals who have attended the Summit hold positions in skilled nursing communities, nursing communities, assisted living communities, continuing care retirement communities, rehabilitation hospitals, home- and community-based services, and affiliated organizations across the country. For more information, please visit the Summit's website .

Self-neglect accounts for more calls to adult protective services agencies across the country than any other form of senior abuse, reports the New York Times . "If someone has decision-making capacity, do they have the right to live in squalor?" asks Dr. XinQi Dong at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. "As a society, we want to respect autonomy and independence." Dong and his colleagues seek factors such as hoarding, poor personal hygiene, and unsanitary conditions as signs of self-neglect. In studies involving more than 4,600 South Side Chicago residents older than 65, Rush Institute researchers who performed in-home interviews found self-neglect to be common. It was present in 9 percent to 10 percent of men and 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent of women, depending on age. Because some residents refused access to their homes, "it wouldn't surprise me if the prevalence were higher," Dong notes. People with poor health and cognitive impairment, African-Americans, and those with lower income and education have significantly higher rates of self-neglect. Dong observes that people who neglect themselves have higher odds of illness and death as well as emergency room visits and hospitalization, and are prone to other forms of senior abuse. Dong says even when self-neglect is reported, state agencies are "often overworked, understaffed, and underfunded." In addition, he notes that with limited research and a lack of strategies and treatments shown to help, "we really don't know how to deal with these cases."

The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) this week is hosting the annual National Consumer Protection Week, sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and committed to helping people understand their consumer rights and make well-informed financial decisions. NAELA member attorneys are devoted to shielding older Americans and disabled people from fraud, identity theft, and scams. "Every day, NAELA members meet with people in these vulnerable populations and their families and help them cope with financial abuse or related issues, as well as helping them plan for the future," notes NAELA President Hyman G. Darling. Free consumer education materials are available on the FTC website .

Uber on Thursday announced the public launch of Uber Health, a dashboard to let healthcare providers schedule rides for customers, while a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found offering to schedule free Lyft rides to and from primary care appointments did not lower the number of missed appointments compared to a cohort not offered the service, reports the Washington Post . "I think we as providers tend to apply our choices of how we live our lives, and we kind of impose it on care recipients' lives," says the University of Pennsylvania's Krisda H. Chaiyachati. "We probably all use ride-sharing services — I used one this morning. We think the same thing is going to apply to a sick person or a poor person, and that might not be true." Chaiyachati noted the study might offer insights about what kinds of people could benefit from ride-sharing help. It could be possible that ride-sharing might be more beneficial in scenarios where adherence to appointments may be more critical, such as oncology. Lyft Business' Gyre Renwick says Lyft has been targeting groups of people, including seniors, in areas underserved by public transit and people for whom missing an appointment could have major health repercussions and lead to costly hospitalizations. Among the lessons gained from Uber's health service pilot is that many customers who used the service have not used Uber before and may lack a smartphone.

Members of Forbes Coaches Council were asked to share strategies for solving employee engagement problems and their suggestions include finding activities that take the team out of their usual surroundings, reports Forbes . Another plan is to enlist front-line staff to come up with engagement solutions. Also recommended is to listen intently about employees' engagement issues, and be committed to acting on engagement survey feedback. Treating employees like they treat customers also is suggested, while exit interviews should be performed before an employee actually leaves. An internal analysis also should be conducted to find the best practices, and a culture of trust needs to be established. Leaders should accumulate firsthand accounts from employees about what is lacking, give workers the tools they need to succeed, and follow the company's mission, vision, and values. In addition, leaders ought to encourage open and safe dialogues, and be bluntly honest.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has received a $10 million gift to open a research center to study the effects of hearing loss, particularly among seniors, reports the Baltimore Sun . School officials want the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health to find ways to prevent dementia and other cognitive declines that sometimes accompany hearing loss. Heading the center will be Bloomberg School Professor Dr. Frank Lin. "We are just now beginning to understand the impact that hearing loss can have on the lives of older adults," Lin notes. "Amazingly, there is a dearth of public health research that examines this area and that is geared towards developing solutions and policies needed to mitigate these effects." The funding from Cochlear Ltd. will support infrastructure for the center, its faculty, and trainees. Research will be funded via grants such as those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Scientists associated with the center had more than $20 million in NIH funding to study hearing loss. "We expect the collaboration behind this Center to generate insights into how to create scalable economic models for the delivery of hearing services to the millions of older adults in need," Lin says.