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. The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is publishing weekly on Wednesdays for the Winter 2022 semester by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. If you would like a current copy of the paper mailed to you, please visit store. pub.umich.edu/michigan-daily-buy-this-edition to place your order. 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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