alzhub.org
Get help now — free helplines

You can call any of these for free. You do not need a diagnosis, an appointment, or a crisis to call — questions and plain exhaustion are reasons enough.

  • Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline 800-272-3900 24 hours a day, 365 days a year Free, confidential support and information for people with dementia, caregivers, families and the public. Master's-level clinicians. Also Spanish.
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 988 24/7 Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. For anyone in emotional distress or a mental-health crisis, including caregivers.
  • Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) Helpline 866-232-8484 9:00 am - 9:00 pm ET, seven days a week Licensed social workers providing support, info and referrals. Also text message and web chat. Text: 646-586-5283

In a medical emergency, call 911. More numbers, and what each line does, on the help page.

Home › Research › Journals › JAMA

Research published in JAMA

Every study in the alzhub library that its record lists as published in JAMA, summarised in plain English and scored out of 100.

These counts and lists are worked out from the library itself each time the page loads. A score rates how much weight a study can bear — its design, journal, evidence and recency — not whether its result is good news.

How the records spell this journal (1 spelling)
  • JAMA — 202 studies

The 20 highest-scoring

  1. Association of Blood Pressure Lowering With Incident Dementia or Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis JAMA · 2020-05-19 · · Peer-reviewed

    This meta-analysis of 14 randomized clinical trials with 96,158 participants found that blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive agents was significantly associated with a reduced risk of dementia or cognitive impairment. It supports treating high blood pressure as a way to lower dementia risk, though it does not show a treatment or cure for people who already have dementia.

  2. Default Palliative Care Consultation for Seriously Ill Hospitalized Patients: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Trial JAMA · 2024-01-01 · · Peer-reviewed
  3. Prevalence of cerebral amyloid pathology in persons without dementia: a meta-analysis JAMA · 2015-05-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    This analysis of many studies found that amyloid buildup in the brain becomes more common with age and is more frequent in people with mild cognitive impairment than in those with normal thinking, and that it can appear 20 to 30 years before dementia symptoms. It helps explain when amyloid pathology starts, but it does not provide a way to treat, cure or prevent Alzheimer's disease.

  4. Effects of Mindfulness Training and Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA · 2022-12-01 · · Peer-reviewed
  5. Prevalence of amyloid PET positivity in dementia syndromes: a meta-analysis JAMA · 2015-05-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    Amyloid plaques also occur in other dementias, so this meta-analysis pooled individual data on 1,359 people clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia and 538 with other dementias, and found that a positive amyloid PET scan was associated with diagnosis, age and APOE ε4 status. In Alzheimer's dementia the estimated share with a positive scan fell from 86% at age 50 to 68% at 90 in APOE ε4 non-carriers, and from 97% to 90% in carriers. The authors see potential use in telling dementias apart in early-onset cases and in supporting an Alzheimer's diagnosis in non-carriers over 70; the study is about diagnosis, not treatment.

  6. Risk of death with atypical antipsychotic drug treatment for dementia: meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials JAMA · 2005-10-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    This meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials found that atypical antipsychotic drugs, used for delusions, aggression, and agitation in people with dementia, may be associated with a small increased risk of death compared with placebo. It does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease itself.

  7. Ginkgo biloba for prevention of dementia: a randomized controlled trial JAMA · 2008-11-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this trial of 3069 community volunteers aged 75 or older, Ginkgo biloba did not reduce the incidence of all-cause dementia or Alzheimer disease compared with placebo. The dementia rate was 3.3 per 100 person-years in the Ginkgo biloba group and 2.9 per 100 person-years in the placebo group.

  8. Effect of citalopram on agitation in Alzheimer disease: the CitAD randomized clinical trial JAMA · 2014-02-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In a double-blind trial of 186 people with probable Alzheimer disease and agitation, all already receiving psychosocial support, 40% of those given citalopram showed moderate or marked improvement versus 26% on placebo, and caregiver distress also fell. It did not improve the NPI agitation subscale or daily activities, and the authors warn that cognitive and cardiac side effects "may limit its practical application" at 30 mg per day.

  9. Effect of a 24-Month Physical Activity Intervention vs Health Education on Cognitive Outcomes in Sedentary Older Adults: The LIFE Randomized Trial JAMA · 2015-08-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this randomized trial, a 24-month moderate-intensity physical activity program did not improve global or domain-specific cognitive function compared with a health education program in sedentary older adults. Some subgroups aged 80 or older and those with poorer baseline physical performance showed better executive function changes, but the main result was no overall benefit.

  10. Delirium in elderly patients and the risk of postdischarge mortality, institutionalization, and dementia: a meta-analysis JAMA · 2010-07-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    Pooling studies of older patients, this 2010 meta-analysis found that people who had delirium were more likely to have died about two years later (hazard ratio 1.95), to have moved into an institution (odds ratio 2.41), and to have developed dementia over about four years, and that these links held "independent of important confounders, such as age, sex, comorbid illness or illness severity, and baseline dementia." The dementia estimate comes from only 2 studies and is very imprecise (odds ratio 12.52, 95% CI 1.86–84.21), so it shows a direction of risk rather than a reliable size. This is an association: the study did not test whether preventing or treating delirium changes any of these outcomes.

  11. Effect of estrogen plus progestin on global cognitive function in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study: a randomized controlled trial JAMA · 2003-05-01 · · Peer-reviewed
  12. Memantine treatment in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer disease already receiving donepezil: a randomized controlled trial JAMA · 2004-01-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this 24-week trial of 404 people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's who were already on stable donepezil, those given memantine as well kept their cognition scores steady (+0.9 on a 0–100 scale), while those given placebo declined (−2.5). The authors report that adding memantine "resulted in significantly better outcomes than placebo on measures of cognition, activities of daily living, global outcome, and behavior and was well tolerated". However, only the cognition figures survive in this record. The trial covers only people already taking donepezil and only six months of treatment, so it supports memantine as an add-on in that group. It does not show that memantine slows the disease.

  13. Effect of physical activity on cognitive function in older adults at risk for Alzheimer disease: a randomized trial JAMA · 2008-09-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this randomized trial in Perth, Australia, 170 adults aged 50 or older who reported memory problems but did not have dementia were assigned either to a 24-week home-based physical activity program or to education and usual care. At the end of the program, the exercise group scored 1.3 points better than the usual-care group on the ADAS-Cog memory-and-thinking test (95% CI −2.38 to −0.22; scale 0–70), which the authors call "a modest improvement in cognition over an 18-month follow-up period." Several other thinking and mood measures did not change significantly, 138 of 170 participants completed the 18-month assessment, and the trial did not measure whether anyone developed dementia.

  14. Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation and cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease: a randomized trial JAMA · 2010-11-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this trial of 402 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease, DHA supplementation did not slow the rate of cognitive and functional decline compared with placebo. Brain volume decline was also similar between the DHA and placebo groups.

  15. Effect of tarenflurbil on cognitive decline and activities of daily living in patients with mild Alzheimer disease: a randomized controlled trial JAMA · 2009-12-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In this trial of 1684 patients with mild Alzheimer disease, tarenflurbil had no beneficial effect on the co-primary outcomes of cognition and activities of daily living compared with placebo. No significant differences occurred in the secondary outcomes.

  16. Menopausal hormone therapy and health outcomes during the intervention and extended poststopping phases of the Women's Health Initiative randomized trials JAMA · 2013-10-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    This report on menopausal hormone therapy found a complex pattern of risks and benefits, with some outcomes like breast cancer and heart disease showing increased risk during the intervention phase. It did not focus on dementia outcomes.

  17. Conjugated equine estrogens and incidence of probable dementia and mild cognitive impairment in postmenopausal women: Women's Health Initiative Memory Study JAMA · 2004-06-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In the estrogen-alone arm of the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, 28 women assigned to conjugated equine estrogens and 19 assigned to placebo were diagnosed with probable dementia (hazard ratio 1.49; 95% CI 0.83–2.66). That range includes no difference, so this trial on its own did not show a statistically significant effect. When the data were pooled "per the original WHIMS protocol", the overall hazard ratio was 1.76 (95% CI 1.19–2.60; P = .005). Neither result suggests this hormone protected against dementia.

  18. Conjugated equine estrogens and global cognitive function in postmenopausal women: Women's Health Initiative Memory Study JAMA · 2004-06-01 · · Peer-reviewed

    In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 2,808 women aged 65–79 who had had a hysterectomy, those given daily conjugated equine estrogen scored 0.26 points lower on average on a global thinking test (3MSE) than those on placebo over about 5.4 years. The study concluded that, for women 65 or older, "hormone therapy had an adverse effect on cognition, which was greater among women with lower cognitive function at initiation of treatment." It measured test scores, not Alzheimer's diagnoses, and does not show how estrogen affects younger women.

  19. Health System, Community-Based, or Usual Dementia Care for Persons With Dementia and Caregivers: The D-CARE Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA · 2025-03-18 · · Peer-reviewed

    Neither health system-based nor community-based dementia care differed significantly from usual care, or from each other, on patient behavioral symptoms and caregiver strain. Only caregiver self-efficacy was significantly higher for both treatments versus usual care, so the main goals of the programs were not met.

  20. Amyloid PET Quantitation and Centiloid Thresholds in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis JAMA · 2026-07-13 · · Peer-reviewed

    This large analysis of amyloid PET scans found that scans could be confidently read as negative below a Centiloid value of 11 and positive above 26. Scans in the 11 to 26 range should be interpreted with caution depending on the context, which matters for how amyloid PET results are used in diagnosis.

See all 202 studies, with filters →

Newest additions

All 202, newest first →

By review status

Other journals

The library by subject →