WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Physical frailty among the elderly may be linked to early Alzheimer's disease, regardless of whether or not patients develop dementia, new research reveals.

The finding, based on brain autopsies of deceased elderly patients, raises the notion that motor impairment in the elderly is an early symptom of Alzheimer's -- one that appears before mental decline.

It could also turn out to be that frailty and Alzheimer's are not directly linked but stem from a common origin, researchers say.

FRIDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A protein produced by fat cells may play a pivotal role in increasing an older American's risk for a heart attack even if they are losing weight, a new report says.

Levels of adiponectin increase in the bloodstream when people lose weight and appear to endanger the cardiovascular health of older people, according to the new study to be published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

MONDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- The growth in the number of cases of mild cognitive impairment in the elderly population is outstripping earlier predictions, Mayo Clinic researchers report.

"The rate of new mild cognitive impairment cases, in this group, was considerably higher than anticipated," lead researcher Dr. Ronald C. Petersen said in a news release. "If we extrapolate Alzheimer's incidence rates to MCI, we would expect perhaps 1 to 2 percent per year, but our findings were substantially higher than that."

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- When the elderly woman first arrived at Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring, Md., some of the staffers were skeptical when they saw she had brought her cat along.

The woman, in the early stages of dementia, "floated in and out," according to Jackie Carson, the assisted living administrator at Brooke Grove, a center specializing in Alzheimer's care.

Staffers had to help the woman remember to feed the cat, and some were initially resentful, saying their job was to care for people, not animals, she added.

SATURDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- Falls are a leading cause of serious injury and death among elderly people in the United States, and most of those falls occur in the home, says the American Geriatric Society (AGS).

TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- As the temperatures rise, older adults become more vulnerable to heat-related health issues because their bodies don't cool down as quickly as younger people.

"Sometimes, older people may not feel hot when the temperature is dangerously high and are also less likely to feel thirsty, which means their bodies have lost too much water," Dr. John B. Murphy, president of The American Geriatrics Society, said in a prepared statement.

For the more than half of all Americans over age 59 who complain about not being able to fall asleep easily, the answer may rest with a 2,000 year old Chinese series of movements.

Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles found that the 19 moves and one pose found in tai chi chih -- the Western version of the ancient philosophy that combines movements and poses to relieve stress and find spiritual fulfillment -- actually allowed study subjects to improve their sleep patterns.

MONDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- Using a cane may help reduce the risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA) progression, according to a study by researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

The study included 16 men and 24 women, mean age 65, with knee OA, an incurable joint disease that's the leading cause of disability in elderly people. All the participants walked in their bare feet and then in their own shoes. Then, 20 of the participants walked wearing their own shoes and using a cane in the hand opposite to the knee with OA.

Elderly people with low levels of vitamin D may be at increased risk for depression and other mental health disorders, Dutch researchers say.

Of the 1,282 people, ages 65 to 92, in the study, 26 had major depression and 169 had minor depression. Vitamin D levels were 14 percent lower in those with major or minor depression, Agence France-Presse reported.

The researchers also found that low vitamin D levels were associated with increased levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid gland. Overactive parathyroid glands are often linked with depression.

SUNDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- Many older adults don't get enough sleep, which can increase the risk of serious health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

While sleep patterns do change as people age, disturbed sleep and waking up tired every day aren't a normal part of aging.