Should older adults stop medications after the polypharmacy mortality study?

No. A Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study of 7,828 US adults aged 65 and older found that taking five or more prescriptions was associated with a 38 percent higher risk of death over an average of 8.5 years, and each additional medication with about 7 percent higher risk. The study was observational, so part of the risk reflects the illnesses the medications treat. Stopping some medications abruptly, including blood pressure medicines, beta-blockers, antidepressants, and sleep medications, can be dangerous. The recommended step is a structured medication review with a physician or pharmacist, using tools such as the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria, to reduce or simplify medications safely.

Should I get a p-tau217 blood test if my memory is normal?

For most people, not yet. A 2026 JAMA analysis of 2,684 cognitively unimpaired older adults across six cohorts found that higher plasma p-tau217 strongly predicted progression to cognitive impairment, with estimated 10-year risk ranging from about 40 percent in the lowest tier to about 78 percent in the very-high tier, and each one-standard-deviation increase carrying a hazard ratio of 1.38. The authors note that current guidance does not recommend testing people without symptoms outside research settings and that the test does not capture vascular or other non-Alzheimer causes of memory loss. People with memory concerns or a strong family history should discuss testing with a physician.

What is primary aldosteronism and who should be tested?

Primary aldosteronism is overproduction of aldosterone by one or both adrenal glands, causing salt retention and high blood pressure. It is the most common identifiable cause of hypertension. A 2026 Science Translational Medicine study of 60 patients using a wearable device that sampled hormones every 20 minutes found aldosterone surges occurred predominantly during sleep and could be missed by daytime blood tests; the abnormal pattern resolved after adrenal surgery. The 2025 Endocrine Society guideline suggests screening all adults with hypertension using an aldosterone-to-renin ratio, with priority for resistant hypertension, low potassium, early-onset hypertension, or an adrenal nodule. The condition is treatable and sometimes curable.

EverHealth Weekly Issue 09 - EverHealth Institute

Good morning,

Every week, a handful of health studies escape the journals and race across news feeds, group chats, and dinner tables. Some deserve the attention. Some deserve a second look. This issue is our physician’s read on the five health stories you were most likely to see shared this month — what the research actually found, what the headline left out, and what, if anything, you should do about it.

The list runs from your medicine cabinet to your arteries: a warning about taking five or more prescriptions, a blood test that may forecast memory decline a decade out, evidence that younger generations are aging faster on the inside, a four-week diet study billed as \”reversing\” age, and a hidden hormonal cause of high blood pressure that a routine morning blood draw can miss.

One thread ties them together. A headline tells you what happened to a population. Your care depends on what is happening in you. That’s Section 3.

— The Everhealth Institute team

This Week in the Evidence

The five most-shared health studies of the month · read by a physician

Emerging — large observational cohort

1. Taking five or more prescriptions tied to 38% higher risk of death in adults over 65

Prospective cohort · 7,828 community-dwelling US adults aged 65+ · NHANES 1999–2016 · mean follow-up 8.5 years · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2026

Why it went viralFour in ten older Americans take five or more daily prescriptions — so this headline landed in nearly every family.

University of Michigan researchers led by Dr. Alexander Chaitoff used a detail most studies lack: survey staff physically inspected participants’ pill bottles to confirm what they had actually taken in the prior 30 days. They then tracked deaths for an average of 8.5 years, looking at three kinds of \”higher-risk\” medication use.

The numbers are sobering. More than 40% of participants met the standard definition of polypharmacy (five or more prescription drugs). 37.6% were taking at least one medication considered potentially inappropriate for older adults, and 11.4% were on a combination with a major drug–drug interaction. Overall, 54.3% fell into at least one high-risk category. Taking five or more medications was associated with a 38% higher risk of death, and each additional prescription tracked with roughly 7% higher risk.

Clinical takeaway: The most important sentence in this story is the one many readers skipped: do not stop a medication because of this study. It is observational, so it cannot separate the effect of the pills from the effect of the illnesses that required them — people on eight medications are, on average, sicker than people on two. It captured a single 30-day snapshot and excluded nursing home residents. What it does show is that medication burden is common, measurable, and rarely re-examined. Many prescriptions are started for a reason that later disappears — a stomach-acid pill after a hospital stay, a sleep aid during a hard month, a dose set before kidney function changed. The right response is a structured, clinician-led medication review: every pill, every supplement, and the question \”is this still helping me?\” asked out loud. At Everhealth we pair that review with kidney and liver function markers, because how your body clears a drug changes with age.

Source: Chaitoff A, et al. Assessing Associations of Three Types of Higher-Risk Medication Use and Mortality in Older Adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2026. PubMed abstract → · Free full text → · Fox News coverage → · About the AGS Beers Criteria® →

Strong — pooled multi-cohort study

2. A blood test for p-tau217 forecast memory decline years before symptoms

Pooled analysis of six North American cohorts · 2,684 cognitively unimpaired older adults · JAMA, September 15, 2026 issue (first presented at AAIC, July 2026)

Why it went viral\”A blood test can predict Alzheimer’s a decade early\” is the headline almost everyone with an aging parent wanted to read.

Phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) is a protein fragment that rises in the blood as Alzheimer’s-type changes build in the brain. Investigators from Mass General Brigham, UCLA and collaborating centers pooled six cohorts of adults with normal thinking and memory and asked a simple question: does a single p-tau217 level predict who will develop cognitive impairment?

It did, in a clear dose–response pattern. Each one-standard-deviation rise in p-tau217 carried a hazard ratio of 1.38. Estimated absolute risk of progressing to cognitive impairment was 12% at 5 years and 40% at 10 years in the lowest tier, rising to 24% and 62% in the high tier and 38% and 78% in the very-high tier. Importantly, p-tau217 kept its predictive value even after accounting for amyloid PET scans — meaning a blood draw captured information comparable to, and partly beyond, a far more expensive imaging test.

Clinical takeaway: This is a genuine milestone for risk stratification — but read the fine print before ordering one. The authors themselves note that current guidance does not recommend testing people without symptoms outside research settings, their 10-year estimates are less certain than 5-year ones, and p-tau217 reflects Alzheimer’s biology specifically, not vascular or other causes of memory loss. A high number is a probability, not a diagnosis — and a low number still carried a meaningful 10-year risk. The practical lesson is the one we made in Issue 07: the most proven brain-protective levers remain blood pressure control, glucose control, not smoking, sleep, and fitness. If you have a strong family history or early symptoms, this is a conversation to have with a physician who can interpret the result in context — not a test to order online and read alone.

Source: Buckley RF, Townsend DL, Birkenbihl CJ, et al. Prognostic Value of Blood-Based P-Tau217 Levels for Progression to Cognitive Impairment. JAMA. 2026;336(11):950–959. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.12556 → · Mass General Brigham press release →

Emerging — large observational cohorts

3. Younger generations are aging faster inside — and it may help explain the rise in early-onset cancer

Observational · 154,000+ UK Biobank participants and 10,000+ from the NIH All of Us program · Nature Medicine, June 22, 2026 · resurfaced widely this month

Why it went viralColorectal, breast and uterine cancers are rising in people under 50, and this study offered a plausible \”why.\”

Washington University researchers estimated each person’s biological age from routine blood chemistry (the PhenoAge score uses nine markers such as albumin, creatinine and glucose), plus metabolic and protein-based measures of organ-specific aging. They then compared people born in different decades at the same chronological age.

Later-born generations looked biologically older. In the UK cohort, people born 1965–1974 showed measurably higher systemic aging than those born 1950–1954; in the US cohort the gap between those born in the 1990s and the late 1960s was larger still. Faster systemic aging was associated with about 8% higher risk of early-onset solid cancer, and the most-aged group carried 15% higher risk than the least-aged. Organ-specific patterns stood out: immune-system aging tracked with early-onset lung cancer, and fat-tissue aging with early-onset colorectal cancer.

Clinical takeaway: This is association, not proof — the study does not identify what is accelerating aging, and the effect sizes per person are modest. But it reframes early-onset cancer as a problem of the whole body’s biology, not just bad luck in one organ, and it points toward the same modifiable drivers we target every day: excess visceral fat, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, poor sleep, and low fitness. Two practical implications for younger adults: take symptoms seriously (rectal bleeding, a change in bowel habits, unexplained weight loss or fatigue are not \”too young to matter\”), and start colorectal screening at 45 — earlier with a family history. Where a fuller picture is warranted, advanced cancer screening and a body-composition assessment that measures visceral fat can turn a population trend into a personal plan.

Source: Tian R, Zong Y, Ren D, … Govindan R, Cao Y. Biological aging and generational shifts in early-onset cancer risk. Nature Medicine. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04448-w → · WashU Medicine press release → · ScienceDaily summary →

Early — small randomized trial, biomarker endpoint

4. \”Scientists reversed biological age in four weeks\” — what the diet trial really showed

Randomized controlled trial · 104 adults aged 65–75 · four diets for 4 weeks · University of Sydney · Aging Cell, 2026 (published May; re-shared widely September 15)

Why it went viral\”Reverse your age\” plus \”in just four weeks\” is close to the perfect social-media headline.

Charles Perkins Centre researchers randomized 104 healthy older adults to one of four diets, each with the same modest protein share (14%) but different sources and fat-to-carbohydrate balance: omnivorous high-fat, omnivorous high-carbohydrate, semi-vegetarian high-fat, and semi-vegetarian high-carbohydrate. \”Biological age\” was a composite of 20 blood and physiological markers, including cholesterol, insulin and C-reactive protein.

Three of the four diets improved the composite score. The clearest effect came in the omnivorous high-carbohydrate group (about 53% carbohydrate, 28–29% fat) — a pattern built largely on whole-food carbohydrates rather than refined sugar. The omnivorous high-fat diet produced no meaningful change.

Clinical takeaway: What changed in four weeks was a biomarker score — not lifespan, not disease, and not your DNA. The investigators said so directly: \”It’s too soon to say definitively that specific changes to diet will extend your life.\” That said, the finding is useful and reassuring in a practical way: metabolic markers such as insulin, lipids and inflammation respond to diet quickly, even at 70. That is precisely why we recommend re-checking a biomarker panel 8–12 weeks after a change, rather than waiting a year. As we covered in Issue 06, treat commercial \”biological age\” results as a trend line to follow, not a verdict — and prioritize the measurements that change decisions.

Source: Andrews C, et al. Short-Term Dietary Intervention Alters Physiological Profiles Relevant to Ageing. Aging Cell. 2026;25(5). doi:10.1111/acel.70507 → · University of Sydney release →

Early — proof-of-concept with surgical confirmation

5. The hidden cause of high blood pressure that a morning blood test can miss

Multicenter physiology study · 60 patients · wearable sampling every 20 minutes for 24 hours · Bristol, Bergen, Stockholm, Athens · Science Translational Medicine, August 2026

Why it went viralNearly half of US adults have high blood pressure — and \”a hidden cause your doctor may miss\” hits home.

Primary aldosteronism occurs when one or both adrenal glands make too much aldosterone, a hormone that makes the body retain salt and raises blood pressure. It is the most common identifiable cause of hypertension — estimates range from about 5–14% of people with high blood pressure in primary care and up to 1 in 5 in some series — yet most people with hypertension are never tested for it.

Using U-RHYTHM, a phone-sized wearable that samples tissue fluid every 20 minutes during normal daily life, researchers found that aldosterone and related steroids in these patients did not stay steadily high. Instead, they came in bursts, predominantly during sleep — a time when nobody draws blood. In some patients, daytime levels dipped below the thresholds used to diagnose the condition. After surgery removed the affected adrenal gland, the abnormal night-time pattern disappeared.

Clinical takeaway: The device is a research tool, not something you can order, and the study was small. But the message behind it is already guideline-backed: the 2025 Endocrine Society guideline suggests screening all adults with hypertension for primary aldosteronism with an aldosterone-to-renin blood test. Screening matters most if your blood pressure is hard to control on three or more medications, started before age 40, or comes with low potassium or an adrenal nodule. Finding it matters because it is treatable, sometimes curable — with targeted medication or surgery — and because excess aldosterone damages the heart and kidneys beyond what the blood pressure alone predicts. If you have hypertension and have never had this test, ask about it by name.

Source: Grytaas MA, et al. Tissue corticosteroid rhythms are dysregulated predominantly during sleep in primary aldosteronism. Sci Transl Med. 2026;18(864). PubMed abstract → · University of Bristol release → · Endocrine Society screening guideline →

Headline vs. Evidence

Share-ready reality checks · what the post said, and what the study showed

Before you forward a health headline, run it through three questions: Was this a randomized trial or an observation? Did it measure an outcome (a heart attack, a diagnosis, a death) or a number on a lab report? And who was studied — does that include someone like you? Here is how this month’s five stories score.

PolypharmacyHeadline: \”Five or more pills raise your risk of death.\” Evidence: An association in an observational cohort — sicker people take more drugs. Verdict: Real signal, wrong action if you stop medicines on your own. Ask for a review.
p-tau217Headline: \”A blood test predicts Alzheimer’s a decade early.\” Evidence: Strong risk prediction across six cohorts; not yet recommended for people without symptoms. Verdict: A major research advance; a clinical tool still being defined.
Early-onset cancerHeadline: \”Millennials are aging faster.\” Evidence: Blood-based aging scores were higher in later-born groups and linked to modestly higher cancer risk. Verdict: Plausible and important; causes still unknown.
Biological ageHeadline: \”Reverse your age in four weeks.\” Evidence: A small trial improved a 20-marker score over four weeks. Verdict: Metabolic markers move fast. \”Age reversal\” is an overstatement.
AldosteroneHeadline: \”A hidden cause of high blood pressure.\” Evidence: Night-time hormone bursts in 60 patients, confirmed by surgery. Verdict: The device is experimental; the screening advice is not. Get tested if you have hypertension.

The Long View

Original perspective · one idea, examined

The Long View

The headline and the person

Everhealth Institute · ~3 minute read

Viral health news has a shape. It takes a finding about thousands of people, compresses it into a single sentence, and hands it to you as though it were about you. \”Five pills raise your risk of death.\” \”A blood test predicts Alzheimer’s.\” \”You can reverse your age in a month.\” Each sentence is technically traceable to a real study. None of them is a diagnosis.

Look at what this month’s five stories actually measured. One counted pill bottles. One drew a single tube of blood. One computed an \”age\” from nine routine lab values. One scored 20 biomarkers before and after a diet. One sampled hormones every twenty minutes through the night. Every one of them is, at heart, a story about measurement — about signals that were always there, hiding in plain sight, until someone looked closely or at the right time.

That is the real lesson, and it is more hopeful than any headline. The aldosterone bursts were happening while patients slept and doctors weren’t looking. The medication burden was sitting in the cabinet, unreviewed for years. The accelerated aging was written in blood chemistry that many people already have on file. The information was available; the attention was not.

Population studies tell us where to look. They cannot tell us what we will find in you. A 38% relative risk means nothing until someone asks which of your eight medications is still earning its place. A p-tau217 value means little until it sits beside your blood pressure, your sleep, your family history, and your goals. A \”biological age\” means nothing unless it is measured again, the same way, after something changes.

This is the work of precision prevention: turning the week’s headlines into better questions about one person. Read the news. Then bring it to someone who can read you.

Do This Week

Plain-language, practical prevention

1Do a \”brown bag\” medication review. Put every prescription, over-the-counter pill, and supplement into a bag and bring it to your next visit. For each one, ask three questions: Why am I taking this? Is it still needed? Is the dose still right for my kidneys and my age? Never stop a prescription on your own — some, like blood pressure medicines, beta-blockers, antidepressants and sleep aids, can cause harm if stopped abruptly.
2If you have high blood pressure, ask for an aldosterone-to-renin ratio. It is a simple blood test, and the Endocrine Society now suggests it for all adults with hypertension. Ask especially if you need three or more medications, were diagnosed before 40, or have ever had low potassium.
3Under 50? Don’t dismiss red-flag symptoms, and know your screening age. Rectal bleeding, a persistent change in bowel habits, unexplained weight loss, or new, unusual fatigue deserve evaluation at any age. Colorectal screening now begins at 45 for average-risk adults — earlier with a family history. Explore your options with advanced cancer screening.
4Make one whole-food swap, then re-measure. The Sydney trial showed metabolic markers can shift in weeks. Replace one refined carbohydrate a day with a whole-food source — oats, beans, lentils, fruit, or whole grains — and ask to re-check insulin, lipids and hs-CRP on a biomarker panel in 8–12 weeks, so you are tracking your own response, not a headline.

Questions We Got This Week

Straight answers to what patients actually asked

I’m 72 and take seven prescriptions. Should I stop some of them after the polypharmacy study?

Not on your own. The study of 7,828 adults aged 65 and older found that taking five or more prescriptions was associated with a 38% higher risk of death over about 8.5 years, and each additional drug with about 7% higher risk — but it was observational, so part of that risk reflects the illnesses the medications treat. Stopping certain drugs suddenly, including blood pressure medicines, beta-blockers, antidepressants, and sleep medications, can be dangerous. The evidence-based next step is a structured medication review with your physician or pharmacist, checking each drug against your current conditions, kidney and liver function, and tools such as the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria®. Many patients can safely reduce or simplify their regimen — the key is doing it deliberately, one change at a time.

Should I get a p-tau217 blood test if my memory is fine?

For most people, not yet. A JAMA analysis of 2,684 cognitively unimpaired older adults across six cohorts found that higher p-tau217 levels strongly predicted progression to cognitive impairment — estimated 10-year risk ranged from about 40% in the lowest tier to about 78% in the very-high tier. However, the authors note that current guidance does not recommend testing people without symptoms outside research settings, 10-year estimates are less certain, and the test does not capture vascular or other causes of memory loss. If you have memory concerns or a strong family history, discuss testing with a physician who can interpret it alongside your other risk factors. For everyone, the proven steps are the same: control blood pressure and blood sugar, don’t smoke, sleep well, and stay physically active.

Why are more young adults getting cancer, and what can I do about it?

The causes are still being studied, but a 2026 Nature Medicine study of more than 164,000 people suggests that faster biological aging may play a role. Later-born generations showed higher blood-based aging scores than earlier generations at the same age, and faster systemic aging was associated with about 8% higher risk of early-onset solid cancers; immune aging was linked to early-onset lung cancer and fat-tissue aging to early-onset colorectal cancer. The study shows association, not causation. Practical steps include reducing visceral fat, improving insulin sensitivity, staying active, not smoking, limiting alcohol, beginning colorectal screening at age 45 (earlier with a family history), and never ignoring symptoms such as rectal bleeding or unexplained weight loss.

What is primary aldosteronism, and should I be tested?

Primary aldosteronism is a condition in which the adrenal glands produce too much aldosterone, causing salt retention and high blood pressure. It is the most common identifiable cause of hypertension and is frequently missed. A 2026 Science Translational Medicine study using a wearable sampling device found that aldosterone in affected patients often surges during sleep, so a single daytime blood test can miss it; the abnormal pattern disappeared after surgery. The 2025 Endocrine Society guideline suggests screening all adults with hypertension using an aldosterone-to-renin ratio blood test, with particular priority for people with resistant hypertension, low potassium, early-onset high blood pressure, or an adrenal nodule. Diagnosis matters because the condition is treatable with targeted medication and, when one gland is responsible, often curable with surgery.

Can diet really reverse my biological age?

Diet can improve markers linked to aging, but \”reversal\” overstates the evidence. In a University of Sydney randomized trial published in Aging Cell, 104 adults aged 65 to 75 followed one of four diets for four weeks. Three diets improved a composite biological-age score built from 20 biomarkers such as cholesterol, insulin, and C-reactive protein, with the strongest effect on an omnivorous higher-carbohydrate diet; an omnivorous high-fat diet produced no meaningful change. The researchers cautioned that it is too soon to say these changes extend life. The useful takeaway is that metabolic markers respond within weeks, so re-testing 8 to 12 weeks after a dietary change can show whether it is working for you.

Saw a headline that worried you?

Bring it — and your medication list — to your next Everhealth visit. We’ll translate the study into what it means for your biology.

Schedule an Assessment

Know someone who shares health headlines in the family group chat? Forward them this issue. · Next week: the evidence behind blood-based cancer screening — what multi-cancer tests can and cannot tell you.