Study: New Blood Test May Forecast Women’s Dementia Risk 25 Years Early
Researchers looked at levels of p-tau217 among women with no signs of cognitive issues and found that those with higher levels were "much more likely" to develop dementia. Also: Psilocybin might be better at helping smokers quit than nicotine patches, researchers say.
A new blood test could determine a woman鈥檚 dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge. That鈥檚 according to new research from the University of California San Diego, which found that a specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease was "strongly linked" to future dementia risk. (Rudy, 3/10)
A single high-strength dose of psilocybin was more effective than nicotine patches for helping smokers quit, a pilot randomized trial showed. (Monaco, 3/10)
A Public Health Alerts report today notes that cigarette smoking in US adults dropped from 10.8% in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024, while the use of other tobacco products, such as cigars and e-cigarettes, stayed flat, and 18.8% of US adults鈥攐r about 48 million鈥攗sed at least one tobacco product in 2024. Public Health Alerts, a new collaboration between聽NEJM Evidence聽and CIDRAP,聽fills a gap in reliable data, offering expert-reviewed reports that translate frontline observations into actionable public health evidence. An聽NEJM Evidence聽editorial聽explains the initiative further. (Wappes, 3/10)
In 2013, when Kate Regan was a senior in high school, she became fixated on health and nutrition. She found content from online creators who made 鈥渨hat I eat in a day鈥 videos inspiring. What she didn鈥檛 realize at the time was that this curiosity was masking a developing eating disorder. (Lyons, 3/10)
The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Monday about oysters and clams that could be contaminated with norovirus and were sent to nine states, including California, Florida and New York. The shellfish caution covers "certain raw oysters" harvested by Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. and Manila clams harvested by Lummi Indian Business Council from Feb. 13 to March 3, the FDA said in a statement. (Li, 3/10)