Specific Association of Worry With Amyloid-β But Not Tau in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults was published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, May 2024.
The link to the manuscript is here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1064748124003270
Nancy J. Donovan, MD was interviewed by Dana Smith of the New York Times about the effects of loneliness on the aging brain.
The New York Times Article, “Loneliness Can Change the Brain,” is available here.
Nancy J. Donovan, MD presented at the Mass General Brigham and Lurie Family Center for Autism conference on Aging Well with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Challenges, Opportunities, and Insights. She gave her presentation, entitled “Cognitive and Emotional Well-being in Aging,” and participated in a panel discussion with other leaders in detecting and managing age-associated cognitive and neuropsychiatric changes.
A remotely delivered, personalized music therapy pilot intervention for lonely older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic was published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Open Science, Education, and Practice, March 2024.
Read the manuscript here: https://www.oseponline.org/article/S2950-3868(24)00003-0/fulltext
Nancy J. Donovan, MD presented a talk, titled “Social Connection and Aging,” at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds on February 8th, 2024.
You can view her presentation at this link (note: the presentation begins at 2:45min).
Social activity mediates locus coeruleus tangle-related cognition in older adults was published in Molecular Psychiatry, January 2024.
Read the manuscript here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02467-y
Nancy J. Donovan, MD chaired the session “Loneliness, Isolation, and Aging” at the Building Connected Communities conference, an action forum for leaders working to address social isolation, loneliness, and connection. She was joined during the session by colleagues from the National Academies Committee on Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults (2018-2019), Dan Blazer MD, PhD (Chair) and Carla Perissonotto, MD.
A recording of the full presentation and panel discussion is available here.
The full Building Connected Communities conference agenda and links to other presenters and sessions is available here.
While there may not be any biomarkers for loneliness, there is an association between loneliness and Alzheimer’s disease, according to Dr. Nancy Donovan. Read the article here.
National Academy Committee releases report on social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Download report here.
Using data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study, Kelsey Biddle et al. found that being widowed was associated with accelerated beta-amyloid-related cognitive decline over three years. Cognitively unimpaired, widowed older adults were especially susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease progression, emphasizing the need for increased research attention and informed interventions for this vulnerable group. [Article] [CNN Article]
