Tai Chi and Qigong May Boost Thinking Scores in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Tai Chi and Qigong May Boost Thinking Scores in Mild Cognitive Impairment

TL;DR: Across 27 trials in older adults with mild memory and thinking problems, tai chi and qigong classes lifted overall thinking scores by a moderate amount compared with no exercise. More weekly minutes were not always better, and the dosing patterns still need testing. Key Findings 27 randomized trials, 2,034 people: All aged 60+ with …

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Frailty Predicted Mortality After Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in Older Inpatients

Frailty Predicted Mortality After Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in Older Inpatients

TL;DR: A 2026 preprint in medRxiv reported that frailty and medical comorbidity predicted short-term outcomes more clearly than psychiatric history among older adults evaluated by consultation-liaison psychiatry teams in Spanish general hospitals. Key Findings 465 older inpatients: The prospective OLD-3 cohort included adults aged 65 years and older referred to consultation-liaison psychiatry in 10 Spanish …

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BCG Immunotherapy Altered CNS Immunity and Alzheimer’s Biomarkers

BCG Immunotherapy Altered CNS Immunity and Alzheimer's Biomarkers

TL;DR: A 2026 open-label study in Communications Medicine found that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy changed cerebrospinal-fluid immune-cell responses and Alzheimer-related biomarkers in 23 older adults. Key Findings Small trial context: 2 related 1-year open-label trials enrolled 23 adults aged 55 or older at one academic medical center. BCG dosing was simple: Participants received 2 intradermal …

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Plasma Vitamin C Linked to Gray Matter and Default Mode Network MRI Measures in 2,044 Older Adults

Plasma Vitamin C Linked to Gray Matter and Default Mode Network MRI Measures in 2,044 Older Adults

TL;DR: A 2026 cohort study in PLOS One found that higher fasting plasma vitamin C levels were independently associated with larger MRI-measured gray matter and stronger default mode network (DMN) structural connectivity in 2,044 older adults, but the cross-sectional design cannot show that vitamin C caused the brain differences. Key Findings Large MRI cohort: The …

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Open-Label Placebo Lowered Stress in Older Adults Over 3 Weeks

Open-Label Placebo Lowered Stress in Older Adults Over 3 Weeks

TL;DR: A 2026 randomized trial in International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology found that older adults who knowingly took placebo pills for 3 weeks reported lower stress and performed better on Digit Span than controls. Key Findings Aging trial context: The trial randomized 90 healthy community-dwelling adults in Milan, ages 65 to 90, into …

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Resting Facial Expressions Differed in Older Adults With MCI-Level Scores

Resting Facial Expressions Differed in Older Adults With MCI-Level Scores

TL;DR: A 2026 preprint on medRxiv found that older adults with mild-cognitive-impairment-level scores showed different resting facial action patterns than healthy controls, especially upper lip raiser, lip tightener, and lip suck measures. Key Findings MCI-level comparison: The study included 45 older adults and compared 31 participants in the MCI-level group with 14 healthy controls. MoCA-defined …

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ADAS-Cog-13 Flagged Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults With Focal Epilepsy

ADAS-Cog-13 Flagged Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults With Focal Epilepsy

TL;DR: A 2026 preprint in medRxiv found that the ADAS-Cog-13 cognitive scale detected impairment in older adults with focal epilepsy, but a cutoff of 15 had only modest diagnostic accuracy against an epilepsy-specific neuropsychological standard. Key Findings 83 epilepsy patients: The study analyzed adults older than 55 with focal epilepsy from the Brain, Aging, and …

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Depressive Symptoms Accelerated Four Years Before Death in Twin Consortium

Depressive Symptoms Accelerated Four Years Before Death in Twin Consortium

TL;DR: A 2025 study in Psychological Science found that depressive symptoms accelerated about 4 years before death in a multinational twin consortium, suggesting that late-life mood worsening can partly reflect terminal decline rather than chronological age alone. Key Findings 2,411 older-adult records: Researchers analyzed longitudinal depressive-symptom data from the Interplay of Genes and Environments across …

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Pulse-Wave Coherence Was Lower in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Pulse-Wave Coherence Was Lower in Mild Cognitive Impairment

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint found that older adults with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)-defined mild cognitive impairment had less coordinated pulse-wave responses during a cognitive challenge than cognitively intact older adults. Key Findings Community cognitive-aging sample: The southern Taiwan dataset included 101 older adults: 12 reference participants, 50 people in a MoCA-defined mild cognitive impairment …

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Depression Linked to Lower Quality of Life in Older Adults in Nepal

Depression Linked to Lower Quality of Life in Older Adults in Nepal

TL;DR: A 2026 cross-sectional study in BMC Geriatrics found that 43.9% of 945 older adults in Nepal’s Sudurpaschim Province screened positive for geriatric depression, and depression was linked to lower quality-of-life scores across every WHOQoL-8 domain. Key Findings Large household sample: Researchers interviewed 945 adults aged 60 years and older in Hill and Tarai districts …

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