AHCJ – Association of Health Care Journalists

12/13/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/13/2024 16:51

Gerontological Society conference highlights aging story ideas for 2025

Photo by Antonio Jamal Roberson via Pexels

Last month, nearly 4,000 people (experts, researchers and journalists) gathered in Seattle for the Gerontological Society of America's annual scientific meeting on aging. This 75-year-old conference features over 600 presentations, hundreds of poster sessions, a huge exhibition hall (including a therapy horse) and panels on topics including neuroscience and public policy. The theme of this year's meeting was "The Fortitude Factor."

While it was impossible to attend every session or fully absorb the wealth of information in four days, several themes and areas of concern emerged.

When planning reporting for 2025, journalists may want to consider focusing on some of the issues highlighted below, as shifts in health care funding, research dollars, institutional priorities, private and public program funding, and other factors could significantly affect nearly 58 million people 65 and older and their families.

What will happen to the National Institute on Aging?

There was plenty of off-the-record talk about a Congressional proposal to overhaul the National Institutes of Health, including shifting the National Institute on Aging's focus from comprehensive, whole-person research to hone in specifically on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. There's nothing in this proposal that indicates where other aging research would be housed. If NIA Director Richard Hodes, M.D., had any inkling, he didn't say so during his keynote.

Trump's Cabinet picks

While not every administration pick had been announced at the time of the meeting, there was plenty of buzz over several of president-elect Trump's choices to head the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. There is real concern among researchers and policy experts about issues like routine vaccine recommendations for older adults, Medicare payment reform, and a push to enroll more eligible older people in Medicare Advantage plans. Both the HHS and CMS positions require Senate confirmation. It's not yet certain whether the nominees will be confirmed, but concern among attendees was real.

Stanford health economist Jay Bhattacharya was announced as Trump's pick to head NIH on Nov. 27. Bhattacharya, who is not a practicing physician, has vowed to totally revamp the National Institutes of Health, and with a Republican-majority Congress, it's likely he can carry out this mission. While considered a somewhat controversial pick - Bhattacharya previously backed the "herd immunity" concept at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and argued against lockdowns, among other things - he is considered more mainstream than some of the incoming administration's other nominees.

Bhattacharya has a strong connection to aging research. He directs the Stanford Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His research focuses on the economics of health care around the world, including among vulnerable populations. Journalists should be watching whether he advocates on behalf of continued comprehensive research within the NIH.

Key topics for 2025

Here are some topics that were discussed at the Gerontological Society conference that journalists should follow closely:

  • Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: over 280 sessions and dozens of posters centered on multiple aspects of Alzheimer's disease including anti-amyloid therapies, supporting male family caregivers and cognitive interventions for rural Americans.
  • In related news, RAND released a new report on Dec. 3, highlighting early predictors of Alzheimer's and dementia based on several recent studies. Researchers found that a person's baseline cognitive abilities, health, and functional limitations are the strongest predictors of dementia, while parental health, family size, marital history and demographics are the weakest ones. And people born in the southern U.S. are at higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and dementia, even when controlling for an expanded set of factors
  • Social isolation and loneliness: Many sessions focused on this topic and their connection to cognitive decline and dementia. Those with cognitive issues are less likely to engage with others, while isolation and loneliness can increase risk of cognitive issues, increase risk of hospitalization and lead to higher health care costs. Interventions such as easily accessible senior centers, community programs, friendly visitor/telephone contacts, changes in living arrangements, and even AI can help mitigate this challenge.
  • Age-friendly health and hospital systems: Some four dozen sessions focused on the need to establish more age-friendly care, increase awareness of existing programs and place a stronger focus on the "4Ms" framework, particularly on what matters most to the individual. There was strong consensus on needing to prepare future health care professionals - nurses, physicians, social workers, therapists, mental health specialists and others - to address issues of aging, ageism, multicultural aging, and use of technology in care.
  • Ageism in society and in health care: The 2024 election sparked a lot of discussion about ageism. Approximately 46 presentations and posters examined various aspects of age discrimination - including social media content, creating more age-inclusive global societies, or reframing aging away from the negative stereotypes to a positive, vibrant and worthwhile time of life.
  • Aging in place and affordable housing: 80-plus sessions and posters looked at these issues, as more people prefer to make home modifications to age where they are, while those who can't seek options outside of assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Who pays for this? How? Where do we find enough direct care workers to help those with physical or cognitive needs? These are some of the outstanding questions.
  • Geriatric education and training: The U.S. does not have enough qualified geriatric specialists to meet current and future needs. How are medical and nursing schools encouraging more students to choose careers in geriatrics or gerontology research? Fighting for payment reform is one approach.
  • Policy: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are all at risk in the upcoming Trump administration. Policy experts shared their thinking on how possible reforms might play out, what's at stake for current and future aging policies, and how the states may step up to take on greater responsibility.

Additional topics

  • Climate change's impact on older adults: This includes topics such as disaster preparedness to intense heat.
  • Global aging: What we can learn from other nations' approach to managing an aging populace.
  • Disabilities and chronic diseases: Chronic disease in older people costs the health system billions each year.
  • Mental and behavioral health: This includes depression, anxiety, and addiction.
  • The economics of aging: Many older people struggle to afford basics each month and inflation isn't making it any easier, especially as health care costs continue to rise
  • Family caregiving: During Donald Trump's presidential campaign, he said he wanted to "do something" for family caregivers. Will that come to pass? How else can we support these caregivers?
  • LGBTQIA aging: This demographic has different, often more serious health needs; some face discrimination from providers, or from staff or residents in care facilities. How will anti-gay, anti-trans rhetoric from incoming officials worsen these problems?
  • Longer lifespans: More people are 85 and older than ever before. Many in this group are also the highest-cost patients. Consider longevity vs health span, our quest for the perpetual fountain of youth, and many of the unproven, gimmicky anti-aging products on the market. An FDA overhaul could signal more junk science is on the way.

Also look to public health and social determinants of health as among the other key aging issues to pay attention to. With so many topics to tackle, aging-beat reporting will keep journalists busy throughout the coming year.