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Home › Research › What the research found › Every row

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.

Every row

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Area All 382 Care, carers and services 140 Medicines 85 Genes (not modifiable) 35 All modifiable factors together 27 Diet and supplements 23 Exercise and activity 21 Sleep, mood and social life 19 Hearing and vision 8 Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis 6 Infection and vaccination 5 Heart and metabolic health 4 Injury, delirium and falls 4 Environment 3 Cognitive activity 2
Question Both Prevention 190 Treatment 192
Direction Any Benefit 144 Harm 105 No effect 38 Mixed 37 No direction reported 58
Design Any meta-analysis 57 randomised trial 44 phase 3 trial 15 systematic review 9 phase 2 trial 10 cohort study 136 phase 1 trial 2 cross-sectional study 31 case-control study 14 modelling study 20 regulatory decision 7 company announcement 1 coverage determination 1 None 35
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Showing 9 of 382 rows. One row per study per exposure: a study that tested two different things appears twice, once for each.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Research and outcomes, 9 rows. Every row links to its source.
Exposure Question Direction Outcome measured Design People Effect size, as the source reported it Source
Blood biomarker test (p-tau217 / amyloid ratio) Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

Direction is for the blood test's ability to detect treatment-related amyloid clearance on PET: AUC 0.61, which the authors call suboptimal and not currently usable for that purpose. It says nothing about the drug's effect.

 Detection of PET-confirmed amyloid clearance after donanemab (AUC at 52 weeks) phase 3 trial 830 Plasma p-tau217 showed suboptimal performance in detecting TRAC by PET in donanemab-treated participants (N = 830), with an area under the ROC curve of 0.61 at 52 weeks Alzheimer's & Dementia 2026
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42565262
Caregiving itself (exposure to the carer) Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

No significant difference in 5-year cumulative spending between spouses of people with and without dementia ($3,974, 95% CI -$3,199 to $11,477); year-5 spending was higher (+$2,748), driven by inpatient costs.

 Spouse's cumulative Medicare expenditures in the 5 years after the partner's dementia onset cohort study not stated This difference ($3974, 95% CI = [-$3,199; $11,477]) was not significant. However, there were significant differences in the 5th year's total expenditures (+$2,748 [$321; $5,447]), driven by inpatient expenditures ($1,562 [$22; $3,277]) Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 38975882
Carer psychosocial / skills intervention Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

No difference from waitlist control on the primary burden outcome or on mood, WHOQOL-Bref or productivity; only the CarerQoL-VAS quality-of-life score was higher in the intervention group. The trial recruited 93 of a 194 target.

 Carer burden on the Zarit Burden Interview at 6 and 12 weeks (primary); mood, quality of life, productivity randomised trial 93 No statistically significant differences were observed between the intervention and control groups on the ZBI, CES-D, WHOQOL-Bref and WPAI:CG ... A statistically significantly higher mean CarerQoL-VAS score was found for the intervention group (mean difference = 0.75, 95% CL: 0.25 to 1.24, P = .003) over 6- and 12-weeks, compared to the control Age and ageing 2026
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41719424
Carer psychosocial / skills intervention Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

Burden fell in both arms with no significant difference between the two platforms. There was no untreated control, so the within-arm improvement cannot be separated from time or attention.

 Caregiver burden at 6 months randomised trial 240 Burden: GamePlan4Care effect size 0.50 (p<0.001); Resources4Care effect size 0.23 (p=0.030). Social support GP4C ES 0.21 (p=0.035); distress GP4C ES 0.30 (p=0.010) Alzheimer's & Dementia 2025
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41085219
Dementia care management / navigation Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

No difference between health-system care, community-based care or usual care on either primary outcome. Caregiver self-efficacy did improve in both active arms.

 NPI-Q behavioural symptoms and caregiver strain (co-primary) randomised trial 2,176 NPI-Q difference health-system vs community 0.30 (97.5% CI -0.18 to 0.78); caregiver self-efficacy vs usual care +0.70 (health system) and +0.85 (community), both significant JAMA 2025
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 39878968
Dementia screening / case finding Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

No benefit and no harm: screening did not change family-member quality of life, preparedness or self-efficacy, and did not raise depression or anxiety. Only 5.1% screened positive.

 Family-member quality of life (SF-36) at 24 months randomised trial 1,808 24-month SF-36 mental component difference 0.58 (95% CI -0.18 to 1.33), not significant JAMA Internal Medicine 2026
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42008257
Health-system and payment model Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

Difference-in-differences around ACO entry found no change in end-of-life care processes, outcomes or spending.

 Hospice use and end-of-life spending cohort study 162,034 Hospice use difference -0.4 percentage points (95% CI -1.4 to 0.5); last-6-months spending -$632 (95% CI -$1,377 to $113) JAMA Health Forum 2025
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 40343716
Palliative / advance care planning Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

The primary outcome did not improve. Emergency department visits and hospitalisations were lower (RR 0.45, 95% CI 0.31-0.65), which is a secondary outcome.

 NPI-Q neuropsychiatric symptom severity at 24 months (primary) randomised trial 201 ED visits + hospitalisations: RR 0.45 (95% CI 0.31-0.65); NPI-Q severity difference -0.24 (95% CI -2.33 to 1.84, not significant) JAMA 2025
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 39878993
Respite care Care, carers and services Treatment No effect
why

Three trials comparing respite with no respite found no significant benefit on any carer outcome; the four included trials were too different to pool.

 Carer burden and institutionalisation systematic review 753 No significant benefit found on any caregiver outcome Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 24435941

How this table was built, and where it is weak →