Saturday Onsite Presentation Session 2

Aging & Gerontology

Session Chair: James McNally

11:25-11:50

68736 | Current Alzheimer’s Treatment Options: Lies, Damn Lies, and Pharmaceutical Companies

James McNally, University of Michigan, United States

As of March 2022, annual federal funding for Alzheimer's research in the United States will be more than $3.5 billion. For decades, millions of Americans and their families have been waiting for improved, if not effective, therapies for Alzheimer's and other dementia. Worldwide, researchers work to find solutions for those living with a disease we do not understand, do not know the cause, and do not know how to treat. In the United States alone, more than 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer's, with this number expected to more than double by 2050. Currently, 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia, more deaths than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. More than 11 million Americans provide unpaid care for the victims of this disease with only minimal support from state or federal agencies. Despite the massive investment in pharmaceutical interventions, only four drugs have been approved for Alzheimer's treatment, most introduced in the 1980s. With virtually no progress in treatment options in decades, this presentation reviews the medico-treatment model for Alzheimer's and related dementias and why almost all the chemical interventions have failed in Stage II clinical trials. The presentation will discuss the amyloid hypothesis crisis and how that reflects on this research modality globally. Finally, the presentation will discuss the challenges and conflicts inherent in depending upon publicly traded pharmaceutical companies to report risks, benefits, and costs in an unbiased manner.

11:50-12:15

Spotlight: Does Trait Self-esteem Serve as a Protective Factor in Maintaining Daily Affective Well-being? Multilevel Analyses of Daily Diary Studies in the US and Singapore

Matthew H.S. Ng, Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore, Singapore

Research suggests that self-esteem could be a protective factor in stressful or unfavourable situations. However, little research has been done on the buffering role of self-esteem in the context of daily stressors on affective reactivity. Three daily diary studies (of which two were conducted in Singapore and one in the United States) were carried out to examine this relationship. In all three studies, trait self-esteem was measured at baseline. Subsequently, a daily assessment was conducted on the exposure to daily stressors and its positive and negative effects for seven to eight days. Multilevel modelling showed that trait self-esteem did not moderate the relationship between daily stressor exposure and daily effect. An internal meta-analysis aggregating the findings of all three studies was also consistent with our findings. These findings are contrary to previous literature surrounding the stress-buffering role of self-esteem.