Precisely-measured hydration status correlates with hippocampal volume in healthy older adults

Dehydration is a well-known cause of reversible cognitive impairment in older people, especially those with pre-existing cognitive deficits. The standard practice is to treat any confused older person arriving in an emergency room with intravenous fluid. Typically, these patients are seen to “perk right up” and are quickly discharged. Surprisingly, this near universal clinical practice has motivated few mechanistic studies, and it remains uncertain why cognition in older people is so sensitive to hydration status.

Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - February 11, 2019 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tracy Butler, Anup Deshpande, Patrick Harvey, Yi Li, Henry Rusinek, Elizabeth Pirraglia, Ricardo S Osorio, Lidia Glodzik, Guillaume Madelin, Wen W. Yu, John Masaeka, Dympna Gallagher, Mony J. de Leon Source Type: research