While memory loss is generally thought of as the hallmark of dementia, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia like agitation, aggression, anxiety, and hallucinations are nearly universal, affecting almost all patients with advanced dementia. These behavioral disturbances are often the trigger for nursing home placement, and they can be highly distressing for both patients and their care partners. In today’s episode, Matt and Lauren speak with Dr. Ellen McCreedy, a researcher from the Brown School of Public Health who has conducted a study of personalized music intervention called Music & Memory for people living with dementia in nursing homes. Dr. McCreedy is a gerontologist and health services researcher who focuses on evaluation of non-pharmacologic interventions for managing behavioral disturbances of people living with dementia.

Ellen McCreedy, PhD, MPH Faculty Profile

Articles from Episode:

Sisti A, Gutman R, Mor V, Dionne L, Rudolph JL, Baier RR, McCreedy EM. Using Structured Observations to Evaluate the Effects of a Personalized Music Intervention on Agitated Behaviors and Mood in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: Results From an Embedded, Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;32(3):300-311. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.10.016. Epub 2023 Nov 2. PMID: 37973488; PMCID: PMC10922136.

McCreedy EM, Gutman R, Baier R, Rudolph JL, Thomas KS, Dvorchak F, Uth R, Ogarek J, Mor V. Measuring the effects of a personalized music intervention on agitated behaviors among nursing home residents with dementia: design features for cluster-randomized adaptive trial. Trials. 2021 Oct 7;22(1):681. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05620-y. PMID: 34620193; PMCID: PMC8496617.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Matt & Lauren speak with Dr. Lianlian Lei, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. Dr. Lei discusses a recent study that looks at the impact of partner’s plan choice on the likelihood of Medicare Advantage disenrollment and how that may impact older adults living with dementia. Unlike traditional Medicare that's administered by the federal government, Medicare Advantage are healthcare plans that are administered by private health insurance companies. These plans can vary a lot and typically cover additional services not covered by traditional Medicare. Navigating the various plan options can be a challenge for older adults, and it's not uncommon for individuals to change plans depending on their current needs.

Dr. Lianlian Lei Faculty Profile

Article from Episode: Lei L, Levy H, Ankuda C, Hoffman GJ, Kim HM, Strominger J, Maust DT. Partner Plan Choices and Medicare Advantage Enrollment Decisions Among Older Adults. JAMA. 2024 Mar 20:e241773. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.1773. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38506841; PMCID: PMC10955388.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Lauren and Matt talk with Leah Richmond-Rakerd, PhD who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on emotional and behavioral dysregulation across the life course. Here, Dr. Richmond-Rakerd will discuss her recent study on “The Associations of Hospital-Treated Infections with Subsequent Dementia: Nationwide 30-year Analysis” that was published in Nature Aging.

Articles Discussed in Episode:

Richmond-Rakerd LS, Iyer MT, D'Souza S, Khalifeh L, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Milne BJ. Associations of hospital-treated infections with subsequent dementia: nationwide 30-year analysis. Nat Aging. 2024 Jun;4(6):783-790. doi: 10.1038/s43587-024-00621-3. Epub 2024 May 7. PMID: 38714911.

Milne BJ, Atkinson J, Blakely T, Day H, Douwes J, Gibb S, Nicolson M, Shackleton N, Sporle A, Teng A. Data Resource Profile: The New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Int J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 1;48(3):677-677e. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyz014. Erratum in: Int J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 1;48(3):1027. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyz054. PMID: 30793742.

NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure: https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/integrated-data-infrastructure/

Visit the Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer's (CAPRA) website to learn more.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

You can subscribe to Minding Memory on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.