Tag: dementia

Reading of the Week: Coffee & Dementia Risk – the New JAMA Paper; Also, Mental Healthcare and Till on Her Son & His Illness

February 19, 2026 /

From the Editor

Many of us enjoy drinking coffee before a busy afternoon clinic. Is that cup of java actually healthy? Do caffeinated beverages like coffee and tea reduce the risk of dementia?

Smaller studies have suggested that they do reduce risk; a meta-analysis of coffee drinkers had a similar finding. In an impressive, new JAMA paper, Yu Zhang (of Harvard University) and his co-authors attempt to answer these questions. They report on a prospective cohort study involving almost 132 000 people, looking at dementia risk with a follow-up period up to 43 years. They found a reduction of about 18%. “Greater consumption of caffeinated coffee and tea was associated with lower risk of dementia and modestly better cognitive function, with the most pronounced association at moderate intake levels.” We consider the paper and its implications.

A cup (or two) a day keeps the doctor away?

It’s the paradox of modern psychiatry. Our medications and therapies have never been better, yet access remains poor and quality is uneven, in part because there is no mental health “system.” So, what can be done? In the second selection, from the podcast series Quick Takes, I sit down with Dr. Paul Kurdyak. In addition to being the longest serving ED psychiatrist at CAMH, he is the Vice-President, Medical, of Ontario Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence. “Good systems just work. They don’t need to be navigated.”

And in the third selection, Madeline Till, a psychotherapist, writes about the struggles of her son, who has schizophrenia. In a New York Times essay, she wonders whether it would be easier if he had cancer. “More than anything else I have ever wanted, I want to stop this revolving door. I want schizophrenia to be treated with the same urgency, seriousness and continuity as any other life-threatening illness.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: ECT & Dementia – the New Lancet Psychiatry Paper

September 6, 2018 /

From the Editor

It’s effective but is it really safe?

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains controversial 80 years after its first clinical use. At the heart of the controversy: its effects on cognition. Some wonder about the possibility that ECT could be linked to dementia.

Despite the strong concerns expressed over the years, relatively little research has been done on the possible connection between ECT and dementia. This week, we consider a new paper by the University of Copenhagen’s Merete Osler and her co-authors. In this Lancet Psychiatry study, they tap Danish national databases, finding no connection.

old-man-in-sorrow-vincent-van-goghvan Gogh’s Old Man in Sorrow – in need of ECT?

In this Reading, we look at the paper and consider some recent work on ECT.

DG

 

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Reading of the Week: Can Lithium in Drinking Water Help Prevent Dementia? The Kessing et al. Paper from JAMA Psychiatry

August 31, 2017 /

From the Editor

Since the extraordinary work of John Cade some seven decades ago, lithium has been used as a medication to help people with bipolar. But the history of lithium use is longer – for many years, people have understood that it has medicinal value, and bottled water containing lithium was popular at the turn of the twentieth century (long before Dr. Cade started medical school).

We know that lithium affects the brain in many ways (for example, it slows apoptosis, or programmed cell death); we also that know that dementia can work on those same pathways, but in a negative way (it may sped up apoptosis). In this week’s selection, the authors wonder if lithium can prevent dementia. It’s a big question – and the authors tap a big national database. They find a non-linear correlation between lithium in drinking water and dementia.

Tap water: A potential prevention for dementia if it has lithium in it?

So – does this paper represent something of a breakthrough? We look at the paper and an editorial to answer that question.

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Reading of the Week: The Good Life of Oliver Sacks, and More

February 18, 2016 /

From the Editor

Is the incidence of dementia falling?

What makes a good clinician?

This week, I’ve selected two Readings. We open with a NEJM paper suggesting a big trend: a decline in the incidence of dementia. That paper obviously has major implications for public policy. We then move on to a big and eloquent essay on a famous doctor, Oliver Sacks.

There isn’t much connecting these selections – except that both were suggested by readers, and they both raise big questions.

Enjoy.

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