Nursing home residents are lashing out at each other verbally, physically and in other ways more often than previously believed, according to Cornell University-based researchers.

The risk of serious health problems, including death, are three times higher in seniors with dementia taking antipsychotic drugs, compared with those who don't, Canadian researchers say.

Anticholinergics - a group of drugs commonly prescribed to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease, urinary incontinence and acid reflux - may cause a more rapid decline in cognitive function among the elderly than previously thought, according to investigators.

Study subjects who took ibuprofen for at least five years registered a 40% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. Some medicines in the same non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) class cut the risk of Alzheimer's by 25%.

The majority of Parkinson's patients will develop some form of dementia as they age, which will affect their life expectancy, according to a research team from Norway.

Antipsychotic drugs are essentially useless when it comes to treating Alzheimer's disease, according to a newly released study from Britain.

Stephen McConnell, VP for advocacy and public policy, Alzheimer's Association

The use of physical restraints on nursing home residents has fallen 40% in recent years, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Nearly half of advanced-dementia residents in nursing homes receive antibiotics during the last two weeks of life, but it remains unclear whether such treatment helps, authors of a new study say. Pain from administering the drugs intravenously, as well as unwanted side effects, are among the chief concerns.

Fewer seniors are experiencing "cognitive impairment" across the country today compared with a decade ago, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School.