News
Alzheimer’s data highlights need for increased
understanding of mild cognitive impairment
PHOTO
JINGQI ZHU
Daily Staff Reporter
TESS CROWLEY/Daily
Jon Vaughn returns to camp outside of the President’s House Sunday night following the forced removal of his campsite by the University March 7.
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Worker shortage, lack of awareness surrounding MCI
The
Alzheimer’s
Association
released its “2022 Alzheimer’s Disease
Facts and Figures” report, highlighting
challenges for the public and healthcare
professionals
to
understand
mild
cognitive impairment (MCI), an early
stage of memory loss or other cognitive
ability loss. The report also includes
statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence,
mortality, cost of care and dementia care
workforce in Michigan and nationally.
Alzheimer’s prevalence
According to the report, 190,000
Michigan residents aged 65 and older
had Alzheimer’s in 2020, and the
estimated number in 2025 will be
220,000. There were 4,467 statewide
deaths from Alzheimer’s in 2019.
The report also includes data on the
dementia-care workforce, suggesting
a workforce shortage in most states.
In Michigan, the number of practicing
geriatricians needs to triple to meet the
demand in 2050.
Jennifer Lepard, the president
and CEO of the Michigan chapter of
the Alzheimer’s Association, said the
prevalence of Alzheimer’s in Michigan
is due to the higher proportion of the
aging population in the state compared
to other states.
“We tend to use the phrase that the
greatest risk for Alzheimer’s is aging,”
Lepard said. “One of the challenges for
Michigan right now is that Michigan is
an aging state.”
This year’s report examines the
public and primary care physicians’
(PCPs)
understanding
of
MCI
nationally. The report finds low public
awareness of MCI, with fewer than one
in five Americans familiar with MCI.
The biggest challenge faced by PCPs is
difficulty in differentiating MCI from
normal aging.
Dr. Bruno Giordani, professor of
psychology in psychiatry, neurology,
and psychology and associate director
for Michigan’s Alzheimer’s Disease
Center, explained that MCI is a middle
stage of dementia where symptoms
are not severe enough to have adverse
effects on daily life.
“You don’t just turn on the switch
for Alzheimer’s disease,” Giordani said.
“What happens is this middle stage
where somebody begins to develop
signs and symptoms of problems
without a marked significant effect on
daily life and then eventually becomes
very apparent that somebody has
problems associated with daily life and
then that becomes a whole another
question. So mild cognitive impairment
is this in between time.”
Giordani also said diagnosing MCI
is critical because it alerts people of
the risk of it developing to a more
severe stage of dementia. According to
Giordani, not all individuals with MCI
will develop Alzheimer’s disease, but
the diagnosis of MCI and biomarkers
in the brain can suggest a higher risk
of developing dementia. Biomarkers
such as beta-amyloid and tau levels in
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are strongly
linked to Alzheimer’s and can be
detected by PET scan.
“MCI is important because if
somebody is just beginning to have
memory problems, and if you could
tell if they had amyloid in the brain,
you could tell there was really a risk,”
Giordani said. “It’s an alerting stage. It’s
important to diagnose it so that people
are aware of it. So they can begin to do
things.”
Giordani also said research has been
done to try to find predictors of MCI
and dementia so people know how to
reduce the risks. The earlier people can
catch the predictors, the earlier they can
intervene.
“(There are) studies looking at a
lot of predictive factors and trying to
intervene early,” Giordani said. “They
are trying to say, as you get into middle
age or older age, you should be doing
cognitive training to keep your brain
alert. You should check your heart
disease problems. You should check
your diabetes … you (should) know to
eat a better diet and look at the stress …
But all that research also tells you about
risk groups that may be there.”
Caregiver burden
According to the report, there are
466,000 Michigan residents serving
as unpaid family caregivers and the
total value of unpaid care is $8.6
billion. Lepard said caregiver burden
can cause a significant amount of
stress emotionally, physically and even
financially.
“One of the facts that gets glossed
over a lot is the stress on the caregivers,”
Lepard said. “This is a 24/7 (job),
especially in later stages of the disease,
and the amount of stress that it can cause
especially when you’re talking about an
older person living with disease and
potentially their older spouse … There
are people that have reduced their hours
or left the workforce due to (caregiving)
and that certainly is a financial strain.”
Giordani also said caregiver burden
exists for patients with MCI as much
as for patients with Alzheimer’s and the
burden often causes caregivers to forget
about taking care of themselves.
“And then you have the problem of
creating this large group of people who
are constantly under stress,” Giordani
said. “One of the things that contributes
to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is
stress. So you’ve got older unpaid
people who are in stress, who might
be depressed themselves trying to deal
with all this you’re creating another
whole group of people with potential
problems. And many caregivers of
mild cognitive impairment tend to stop
caring for themselves … This is kind of a
vicious circle.”
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Whitmer asks MI Supreme Court
to strike down state’s abortion ban
KATE WEILAND
Daily News Editor
Executive action targets controversial law unilaterally restricting termination as
Roe v. Wade comes under fire
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed
a
lawsuit
Thursday
challenging
Michigan’s 1931 ban on abortion. This
announcement comes in the wake of
rumors that the U.S. Supreme Court
may overturn or weaken the 1973
landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade,
which protects a woman’s liberty to
choose to have an abortion without
excessive government intervention.
Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban
criminalizes the act of providing an
abortion — including for instances
of rape or incest — but was rendered
unconstitutional
by
the
Roe
v.
Wade decision. If the Roe v. Wade
ruling is overturned, the ban will be
enforceable again.
According to Whitmer’s lawsuit,
the ban violates the Due Process
Clause of the Michigan Constitution,
which provides a right to privacy
and bodily autonomy and violates
Michigan’s Equal Protection Clause.
Whitmer
filed
in
the
Oakland
County Circuit Court and is using her
executive authority to seek immediate
intervention by the Michigan Supreme
Court. Whitmer is the first governor to
file a lawsuit to protect abortion rights
since the Supreme Court signaled the
possibility of overturning Roe v. Wade
with the appointment of justices Brett
Cavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
“If Roe is overturned, abortion
could become illegal in Michigan in
nearly any circumstance—including in
cases of rape and incest— and deprive
Michigan women of the ability to
make critical health care decisions for
themselves,” the press release read.
“This is no longer theoretical: it is
reality. That’s why I am filing a lawsuit
and using my executive authority to
urge the Michigan Supreme Court
to
immediately
resolve
whether
Michigan’s state constitution protects
the right to abortion.”
In an interview with The Michigan
Daily, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin
Gilchrist said abortion rights are
fundamental rights that all people in
Michigan should have.
“The right for women in Michigan
to make their own choices about their
healthcare––to have a right to privacy,
to be empowered, to choose what’s
right for them, with their family, with
their healthcare professionals, and
not with politicians meddling––we
believe it is a fundamental right here
in the state of Michigan,” Gilchrist
said. “The governor is using powers
that are unique to her, that the voters
of Michigan bestowed upon her as
governor of Michigan, to take this
question all the way to the Michigan
Supreme Court –– the court that
settles and interprets state law –– to
affirm that … the right to an abortion
exists in the state of Michigan and is
protected by our state constitution.”
Gilchrist said the right for a
person to get an abortion is essential
to economic freedom. According
to a study from the Washington
Educational Journal, families with
infants can be expected to pay $11,000
a year for childcare and only one in
six children are eligible for subsidies
under the federal program.
“We think this is a matter of
fairness and privacy of choice, and we
think it’s also a matter of economic
justice and security,” Gilchrist said.
“Oftentimes, for many women, the
choice to have children or not to have
children is one of the single biggest
economic decisions they will make
and it will have a huge and lasting
economic impact on them for a
lifetime. To have that choice is to have
… control over your future and to take
that choice away is to hamper your
economic freedom, so we think that
this is an issue of economic justice as
much as an issue of access to abortion,
choice and privacy.”
In the press release, Whitmer said
banning abortion could also keep
families in poverty.
“If a woman is forced to continue
a pregnancy against her will, it can
have
devastating
consequences,
including keeping families in poverty
and making it harder for women and
families to make ends meet,” the press
release read.
The lawsuit asks the court to
recognize the right to abortion as a
constitutional right under the Due
Process Clause of the Michigan
Constitution and asks the court to
stop the enforcement of the 1931 ban.
Gilchrist said the goal of the
lawsuit is to establish the right to
abortion for Michigan residents so
that the outcome of Roe v. Wade will
not impact their rights.
“We hope to affirm and assert that
women have the right to choice, the
right to privacy and the right to access
and have an abortion here in our state,
and establish this protection at the
state level so that women in Michigan
… will have this right regardless of
what happens with Roe versus Wade,”
Gilchrist said.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
GOVERNMENT
RESEARCH
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
2 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022