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Every row of the evidence table
One row per finding: what was tested, which way the result went, and how the study was built. The answer by area, and where the studies disagree, are on the main page.
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Showing 11 of 382 rows. One row per study per exposure: a study that tested two different things appears twice, once for each.
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| Exposure | Question | Direction | Outcome measured | Design | People | Effect size, as the source reported it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis | Prevention |
Mixed
whySustained mild and moderate drinking carried lower risk than not drinking, sustained heavy drinking higher risk, and cutting down from heavy to moderate lower risk. Observational, with the same abstainer problem. |
Incident all-cause dementia over a mean 6.3 years | cohort study | 3,933,382 | Sustained heavy drinking aHR 1.08 (95% CI 1.03-1.12); heavy-to-moderate reduction aHR 0.92 (0.86-0.99) |
JAMA Network Open
2023 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 36745453 |
| Alcohol Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis | Prevention |
Mixed
whyU-shaped: long-term abstainers had 47% higher risk than moderate drinkers, and above 14 units a week each extra 7 units raised risk by 17%. Neither end of the range looks like a benefit of drinking. |
Incident dementia over 23 years | cohort study | 9,087 | Abstinence in midlife vs 1-14 units/week: hazard ratio 1.47 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.89). Among those drinking >14 units/week, "a 7 unit increase in alcohol consumption was associated with a 17% (95% confidence interval 4% to 32%) increase in risk of dementia". CAGE score >2: HR 2.19 (1.29 to 3.71); alcohol-related hospital admission: 4.28 (2.72 to 6.73) |
BMJ
2018 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 30068508 |
| Birth cohort and calendar period (secular trend in dementia) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Mixed
whyThe two measures moved in opposite directions over 2015-2021: standardised incidence fell from 3.5% to 2.8% per year while prevalence rose from 10.5% to 11.8%; gaps between Black or Hispanic and White beneficiaries narrowed. |
Age- and sex-standardised incidence and prevalence of diagnosed dementia among US Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, 2015-2021 | cohort study | not stated | The overall age and sex standardized incidence decreased between 2015 and 2021 from 3.5% to 2.8%. Prevalence increased during this time from 10.5% to 11.8% |
BMJ
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 40393738 |
| Blood biomarkers (GFAP, NfL, p-tau181) for staging and prognosis Care, carers and services | Treatment |
Mixed
whyThe results point different ways: diagnostic confidence rose 1.43 points, but diagnosis changed in only 17.2% and management in 27.7%, below the 30% threshold the investigators set as clinically significant; a non-elevated result reduced amyloid PET use, and patients with elevated results had higher anxiety at 2-3 months. |
Change in clinician diagnostic confidence, diagnosis and management after plasma p-tau181 testing in a memory clinic, and patient wellbeing (SUITABLE) | cohort study | 100 | Clinician diagnostic confidence averaged 1.43 points higher after p-tau181 testing (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02 to 1.84, p < 0.0001). After testing, 27.7% (95% CI 18.9% to 36.4%, p = 0.31) of patients had a change in management and 17.2% of patients had a change in diagnosis - significantly lower than the 30% threshold (95% CI 9.5% to 24.9%, p = 0.004) |
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42254757 |
| Blood biomarkers (GFAP, NfL, p-tau217) for staging and prognosis Care, carers and services | Prevention |
Mixed
whyThe findings point different ways: lower eGFR raised every blood biomarker except Aβ42/40 (a test-interpretation caveat), yet impaired kidney function did not itself raise dementia risk (HR 0.93), while the association between high NfL and dementia was about twice as strong in people with impaired kidneys. |
Blood AD biomarker levels by kidney function (eGFR), and incident dementia over a mean 8.3 years by kidney function and NfL | cohort study | 2,279 | At eGFR = 30 mL/min/1.73 m2, estimated differences were as follows: p-tau181: β, 0.22 [95% CI 0.09-0.35]; p-tau217: β, 0.20 [95% CI 0.10-0.31]; t-tau: β, 0.24 [95% CI 0.05-0.42]; NfL: β, 0.88 [95% CI 0.80-0.95]; GFAP: β, 0.10 [95% CI 0.03-0.16] ... impaired kidney function (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) was not associated with an increased hazard of dementia compared with preserved kidney function (eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) (hazard ratio [HR], 0.93 [95% CI 0.72-1.21]). The relationship between increased (high vs low) NfL and dementia was stronger among individuals with impaired (vs preserved) kidney function (HR, 3.85 [95% CI 1.87-7.95] vs HR, 1.84 [95% CI 1.34-2.53], respectively) |
Neurology
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41337685 |
| Blood biomarkers (GFAP, NfL, p-tau217) for staging and prognosis Care, carers and services | Prevention |
Mixed
whyThe two measures behaved differently: baseline plasma p-tau217 predicted later cognitive decline about as well as entorhinal tau PET (ρ -0.47 vs -0.55), but over time p-tau217 rose then decelerated and tracked concurrent cognitive change only weakly (ρ -0.24) or not at all in the PET substudy, whereas regional tau PET change correlated strongly with concurrent decline. |
Prognostic association with, and concurrent tracking of, cognitive change in preclinical AD: plasma p-tau217 versus tau PET | cohort study | 1,707 | Baseline associations with longitudinal change in PACC score in Aβ+ participants were strongest in the entorhinal cortex (correlation [ρ] = -0.55; 95% CI, -0.63 to -0.45) and plasma p-tau217 levels (ρ = -0.47; 95% CI, -0.56 to -0.37) ... Levels of plasma p-tau217 increased significantly in Aβ+ participants before showing significant deceleration (χ2 = 21.7; P < .001) and were not associated with concurrent cognitive change in the tau PET substudy (ρ = -0.03; 95% CI, -0.23 to 0.16) but were modestly associated with concurrent cognitive changes in the full plasma sample (n = 1119; ρ = -0.24; 95% CI, -0.34 to -0.14) |
JAMA Neurology
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 40853684 |
| Blood biomarkers (GFAP, NfL, p-tau217) for staging and prognosis Care, carers and services | Treatment |
Mixed
whyThe three markers pointed different ways: plasma p-tau217 distinguished amyloid/tau stages, GFAP tracked amyloid-driven tau progression, and NfL was only weakly linked to Alzheimer pathology and, in the authors' words, inadequate as a neuronal injury biomarker for AD. |
Discrimination of amyloid/tau stages, tau progression, hippocampal atrophy and cognitive decline | cohort study | 1,275 | not established — pubmed abstract results reports no numeric estimate. the library had recorded "p-tau217 auc 0.959", which does not appear in the abstract and is not… |
Alzheimer's & Dementia
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41376134 |
| Cost of dementia care Care, carers and services | Prevention |
Mixed
whyThe two comparisons point different ways: overall utilization and payments were similar between amyloid-positive (A4) and amyloid-negative (LEARN) participants, but among A4 participants claims indicators of progression carried 45-103% higher payments. |
Healthcare utilization and Medicare payments in cognitively unimpaired amyloid-positive versus amyloid-negative people, and by claims indicators of AD progression | cohort study | 367 | 45% payment increase for cognitive impairment (p=0.035) with a mean incremental cost of $140 per person per month (PPPM) (95% confidence interval [CI] $125-$155), 66% payment increase for AD (p=0.011) with a mean incremental cost of $207 PPPM (95% CI $188-$226), and 103% payment increase for high frailty (p<0.001) with a mean incremental cost of $303 PPPM (95% CI $283-$323) |
Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41926844 |
| Dementia screening / case finding Care, carers and services | Treatment |
Mixed
whyMCI was diagnosed sooner (HR 1.21) but dementia diagnosis barely moved (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02-1.06). The outcome is detection, not health. |
Timeliness of first MCI and dementia diagnosis | cohort study | 549,516 | MCI diagnosis HR 1.21 (95% CI 1.16-1.27); dementia diagnosis HR 1.04 (95% CI 1.02-1.06) after an Annual Wellness Visit |
JAMA Network Open
2024 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 39378037 |
| Hospital admission after an emergency department visit Care, carers and services | Treatment |
Mixed
whyAdmission showed no evidence of an effect on 30-day mortality or subsequent inpatient days, but raised 30-day health care spending by $2547. An instrumental-variable estimate for marginal admissions. |
30- and 90-day mortality, inpatient days and health care spending after hospital admission versus discharge | cohort study | 872,085 | There was no evidence that hospital admission was associated with 30-day mortality rate (adjusted risk difference, -2.6 percentage points [pp] [95% CI, -5.2 to 0.1 pp]) or inpatient days (adjusted difference, 0.1 days [CI, -0.2 to 0.5 days]). Hospital admission was associated with higher 30-day health care spending (adjusted difference, $2547 [CI, $1390 to $3703]) |
Annals of internal medicine
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42258826 |
| APOE genotype Genes (not modifiable) | Prevention |
Mixed
whyDirection is for APOE genotype after 90: ε2 carriers had lower dementia risk, while the ε4 association was not statistically significant. Women and Black participants had higher risk than men and Asian participants. Age-standardised incidence was 116.82 per 1000 person-years. |
Incident all-cause dementia after age 90 by APOE genotype, sex and race | cohort study | 805 | The age-standardised incidence rate was 116·82 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI 93·69-139·96). In Fine-Gray models, dementia risk was higher in female than in male participants (subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR] 1·89, 95% CI 1·30-2·76) and Black than Asian participants (sHR 1·75, 1·07-2·88), lower in APOE ε2 carriers than in non-carriers (sHR 0·39, 0·17-0·88), and not significantly higher in APOE ε4 carriers than in non-carriers (sHR 1·51, 0·92-2·47) |
The lancet. Healthy longevity
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42551464 |