myAVOS, your Digital Aging Well Coach, your Cognitive Care Solution

  The Reality of Aging and Chronic Conditions The Reality of Aging and Chronic Conditions Age does not come alone is a commonly held belief. By mid-sixties many people are already on up to four medications, usually four chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol. Treatments for these conditions are available and take up a significant portion of clinical time in terms of monitoring and adjustment of medicines. They are also conditions where medical compliance is variable, as they are pretty much symptomless until a significant event occurs eg heart attack or stroke. More bizarrely perhaps is that people attend different appointments for different follow ups, meaning any one individual may go to their GP four times a year, just to make sure everything is in order. In parts this is perpetuated by a system that measures the frequency of these check ups to remunerate the surgeries. While this is seen as a preventative measure, it is al...

  From AAIC Amsterdam: A Renewed Emphasis on Amyloid and a Fresh Look at Disease Staging in Alzheimer’s Research Interesting times at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Amsterdam last week. Some positive findings with amyloid lowering drugs in early stages of Alzheimer’s were welcomed and seem to have led to the launch of a new 7 part staging process to measure the disease. This should amuse the researchers at New York University who published the Global Deterioration Scale back in 1988. This was used commonly at first, especially in clinical trials, but drifted out of use. But now something broadly similar is back, this time bolstered by the inclusion of biomarkers. In fact there is a stage A0, which is biomarker change, but no symptoms. Amyloid: Biomarker, Warning Sign, or Both? Delving Into the Implications for Alzheimer’s Disease Prognosis and Early Detection This starts to raise questions. It is known that amyloid accumulation affects tau proteins a...

The Economic Burden of Chronic Diseases in Aging Populations Chronic diseases are a significant and profound economic issue for individuals, the healthcare system, and society as a whole. With the aging of populations worldwide, the prevalence of chronic diseases is increasing, accounting for  90% of all medical costs in the US  and even greater worldwide. It amounts to $4.1 trillion in annual health care expenditures The presence of multiple chronic conditions in the same individual has profound implications for healthcare costs and utilization. According to the CDC, six in ten adults have a chronic disease, and four in ten adults have two or more chronic diseases in the US.  A Swiss study  found that elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions had healthcare costs 5.5 times higher than those without multiple chronic conditions. Hence, even a small reduction in the prevalence of chronic diseases can result in significant cost savings and a genuine return on in...