Implementing Alzheimer Disease Prevention Practices

Following his Psych Congress 2024 session "A New Era for Alzheimer’s Disease: Prevention, Early Diagnosis, Effective Intervention," Marc Agronin, MD, chief medical officer for the Frank C. and Lynn Scaduto MIND Institute at Miami Jewish Health, met with Meagan Thistle, senior managing editor at Psych Congress Network, to discuss some of the most promising prevention strategies for Alzheimer disease. Dr Agronin shares a few simple lifestyle changes that could help lower the risk of Alzheimer disease later in life. 

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Read the Transcript: 

Marc Agronin, MD: Hi, I'm Dr Marc Agronin. I'm a geriatric psychiatrist in Miami. I currently serve as the Chief Medical Officer for the Frank C. and Lynn Scaduto MIND Institute at Miami Jewish Health. I also oversee the behavioral health program in my capacity there. I oversee a large memory disorder center. We do comprehensive assessments and treatment for individuals with Alzheimer disease and other neurocognitive disorders along with a full behavioral health program.

Meagan Thistle, Psych Congress Network: What are some promising prevention strategies for Alzheimer's disease and how early should they be implemented?

Dr Agronin: It's wonderful today to talk about prevention of Alzheimer disease and other neurocognitive disorders because there's been a general feeling that there's nothing we can do about it. It's not true. We know that today, up to 45% of all cases could ideally be prevented if people are able to eliminate many of the risk factors. The bottom line is you need to think about brain health as young as possible. So even before and leading into midlife, we should be adopting what we call a "brain-healthy" lifestyle. This focuses on things we would expect to be part of it, like exercise, a healthy diet, lsuch as a Mediterranean diet, keeping ourselves mentally and socially active. Those are really important things, but there are other risk factors we sometimes don't think about that can make a difference. Other risk factors are obesity, diabetes, tobacco use, hearing loss, head injury, and other dietary aspects, though people who drink coffee and tea may have a little bit of a benefit.

People who eat too much processed red meat may have more of a deficit. So there are a lot of different risk factors to think about. Get started early, be consistent, and all I tell people is "factor things into your lifestyle that you enjoy doing so you'll keep doing it." The diet shouldn't be something crazy, but something moderate and something you enjoy, and you can cheat every once in a while. Exercise should be moderate; again, things you enjoy. A lot of people say, "what about brain stimulating activity? Should I do crossword puzzles every day? What about all these brain games I can do?" I tell people to do many different things and cross-train your brain like you do your body, but also find things you enjoy because you'll keep on doing it. We know that over time, by attending to all of these different risk factors, it can make a difference. We already are seeing this because the incidence of Alzheimer disease is beginning to fall, even though we're seeing an increase in the total number of people because of demographics, but it's to the point in the fact that we're gaining ground.

Marc E. Agronin, MD, is a board-certified adult and geriatric psychiatrist and currently works as the Chief Medical Officer for the Frank C. and Lynn Scaduto MIND Institute and Behavioral Health at Miami Jewish Health. He is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Agronin is a graduate of Harvard University, summa cum laude, and the Yale School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in adult psychiatry at Harvard University's McLean Hospital and then a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Dr. Agronin is the 2008 recipient of the "Clinician of the Year" award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the AAGP. He was the 2022-23 President of the AAGP. Dr. Agronin is the author of the acclaimed books "How We Age: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Growing Old" (2011) and "The End of Old Age: Living a Longer, More Purposeful Life"