THURSDAY, Sept. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Many Medicare patients can’t get help close to home for brain and nervous system issues.Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare recipients in the United States live at least 50 miles from their neurologist.“Our study found a substantial travel burden exists for some people with neurologic conditions, including people living in areas with fewer neurologists and rural areas,” said study author Dr. Brian Callaghan, head of the American Academy of Neurology’s Health Services Research Subcommittee. “We also found that people who traveled long distances were less likely to return for a follow‐up visit with a neurologist," Callaghan said in an academy news release.Data came from more than 563,000 people on Medicare (average age: 70) who saw a...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It's now been possible to buy a hearing aid over-the-counter for nearly a year, but few Americans are doing so.More education is needed about just who these over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids can help, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). It polled more than 2,200 Americans about the issue in late June and early July.Just 2% of respondents aged 40 and older who have hearing difficulties said they had purchased an OTC hearing device, the poll showed.In all, 4% said they were likely to purchase an OTC hearing aid in the next year.About 56% of respondents said their hearing wasn't the best. Only 8% had been treated.Many said their hearing difficulties weren’t “bad enough” to warrant care, the ASHA...

TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Bolstering the notion that a strong body equals a strong mind, new research indicates that the more inactive seniors are, the higher their risk for dementia.The finding stems from a look at the onset of dementia among nearly 50,000 Brits.All were at least 60 years old when information about typical daily activity routines was entered into the UK Biobank database at some point between 2006 and 2010.Their risk for dementia was then tracked for an average of about seven years.“We looked into whether sitting too much can increase the risk of getting dementia,” said lead author David Raichlen, a professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California. “Turns out, if you're sedentary for over 10 hours a day,...