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Home › Research › Topics

Alzheimer's research by topic

The 27,380 studies in the library fall into 32 subjects, shown here under 8 headings. Each has its own page with its highest-scoring studies, the newest additions and a breakdown of what the library holds.

The subjects are grouped by what a reader is asking; within a group the largest subject comes first. The median is the middle usefulness score in that subject. Counts describe this library — a large sample of published work, not a complete index of the field.

Data analysis

From MCI to Alzheimer's: what 2,430 participants show — conversion rates and baseline-marker rankings from ADNI, as charts.

Predicting MCI conversion with CSF, MRI and PET together — how much each modality adds to a conversion model.

Baseline cognition adds the most to an MCI conversion model — what cognitive scores add beyond every biomarker.

How 49 ADNI biomarker and cognitive measures relate to each other — the strongest pairs, and what adjusting for memory changes.

APOE4 by the numbers — the gene in the ADNI cohort and across the library's APOE studies.

How big are Alzheimer's studies? — participant counts across the library, by design and subject.

How much Alzheimer's research is free to read? — the open-access share by year, subject, journal and licence.

Anti-amyloid antibodies: what the trials showed — lecanemab, donanemab and aducanumab, with every figure sourced to a library record or an FDA document.

Diagnosis, tests and early signs

6,836 studies
Diagnosis, tests and early signs: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
Getting a diagnosisHow Alzheimer's is identified, how accurate the tests are, and how early it can be caught. 815 789 54 1976–2026 Amyloid PET Quantitation and Centiloid Thresholds in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis ()
Cognitive tests and assessmentMemory and thinking tests, screening tools and rating scales: how well they measure what they claim to. 881 849 49 1935–2026 Comparative Effectiveness of Behavioral Interventions on Quality of Life for Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Clinical Trial ()
BiomarkersMeasurable signals in blood, brain scans or spinal fluid that can indicate Alzheimer's changes. 1,798 1,707 48 1980–2026 Donanemab in preclinical Alzheimer's disease: Screening and baseline data from TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 3 ()
Tau biomarkersBlood, spinal fluid and scan measures of tau protein, and how they track the disease. 690 661 45 1979–2026 Brain MRI signatures across sex and CSF Alzheimer's disease biomarkers ()
Brain scans and imagingMRI, PET and other scans: what they show, how early, and how reliably. 1,459 1,385 46 1961–2026 Associations of inner retinal layers with risk of incident dementia: An individual participant data analysis of four prospective cohort studies ()
Hippocampus size on brain scansStudies that measure the hippocampus, a part of the brain central to memory, usually on MRI, and what its shrinking says about memory loss. 492 492 43 1988–2024 Effects of Mindfulness Training and Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial ()
Mild cognitive impairmentThe stage between normal ageing and dementia: who progresses, who doesn't, and what predicts it. 701 685 49 1999–2026 Addition of a non-immersive virtual reality component to treadmill training to reduce fall risk in older adults (V-TIME): a randomised controlled trial ()

Treatments and trials

3,154 studies
Treatments and trials: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
TreatmentsDrug and non-drug treatment research — what was tested, in whom, and what changed — plus the approvals and coverage decisions that followed. 1,489 1,432 50 1986–2026 Efficacy and safety of passive immunotherapies targeting amyloid beta in Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis ()
Clinical trialsTests of a treatment in people, to find out whether it works and whether it is safe. 162 145 61 1981–2026 MINocyclinE to Reduce inflammation and blood-brain barrier leakage in small Vessel diseAse (MINERVA): A phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled experimental medicine trial ()
Drug developmentCandidate treatments on their way through the pipeline, from the laboratory to early human trials. 873 823 40 1964–2026 Medications for adults with type 2 diabetes: a living systematic review and network meta-analysis ()
Clinical safetyRisks that come up in real-world dementia care: drug side effects, delirium, swallowing problems and other hospital-level harms. 630 616 45 1982–2026 Assessment of Reported Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Atypical Antipsychotics in the Treatment of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: A Network Meta-analysis ()

Prevention and risk

4,013 studies
Prevention and risk: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
Prevention and riskWhat might lower the risk of dementia — and what happened when those things were properly tested. 1,004 979 55 1984–2026 Trial of the MIND Diet for Prevention of Cognitive Decline in Older Persons ()
Prevention trialsTrials that test whether a specific diet, lifestyle change or supplement actually slows cognitive decline. 835 821 48 1981–2026 An online multidomain lifestyle intervention to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk older adults: a randomized controlled trial ()
Risk factorsConditions, exposures and habits linked to a higher or lower chance of dementia, and how strong each link is. 2,174 2,065 42 1932–2026 Adult-onset hearing loss and incident cognitive impairment and dementia - A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies ()

Genetics

3,163 studies
Genetics: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
GeneticsInherited risk: APOE and the other risk genes, and what they do and don't tell you. 1,615 1,527 46 1988–2026 Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium (N=53949) ()
Risk genes beyond APOEGenome-wide studies and individual genes other than APOE that shift Alzheimer's risk. 847 824 43 1987–2026 Pathogenic variants in the Longitudinal Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease Study cohort ()
TREM2 and immune geneticsThe TREM2 gene and related immune pathways in the brain, and what they mean for risk and treatment. 701 684 47 2001–2026 TREM2 variants in Alzheimer's disease ()

How the disease works

3,452 studies
How the disease works: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
Disease mechanismsCell- and molecule-level research into what actually goes wrong in Alzheimer's and related diseases. 1,380 1,333 40 1983–2026 Gut microbiota in patients with Alzheimer's disease spectrum: a systematic review and meta-analysis ()
Laboratory scienceWork on what goes wrong inside the brain, usually in cells or animals. Important, but years from the clinic. 46 43 56.5 1995–2026 Astrocyte reactivity influences amyloid-β effects on tau pathology in preclinical Alzheimer's disease ()
Brain tissue and pathologyWhat is found in the brain itself, usually after death: plaques, tangles and other changes, and how they match symptoms in life. 612 587 48 1968–2026 A genome-wide association study with 1,126,563 individuals identifies new risk loci for Alzheimer's disease ()
Inflammation and the immune systemThe brain's immune cells and inflammatory signals, and their role in how Alzheimer's starts and progresses. 868 852 43 1977–2026 evoke and evoke+: design of two large-scale, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 studies evaluating efficacy, safety, and tolerability of semaglutide in early-stage symptomatic Alzheimer's disease ()
Vascular contributionsHow blood vessel health, small-vessel disease and stroke risk contribute to dementia and cognitive decline. 546 529 42 1975–2026 Atrial fibrillation and incidence of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis ()

Care, costs and services

3,635 studies
Care, costs and services: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
CaregivingResearch on the people doing the caring: their health, their workload, and what support actually helps. 833 815 50 1980–2026 Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease ()
End-of-life careHospice, palliative care and end-of-life decision-making for people living with dementia. 855 839 43 1977–2026 Palliative care interventions in advanced dementia ()
Health systems and care deliveryHow health systems organise, coordinate and pay for dementia care, and where and how people with dementia actually receive it. 654 631 40 1982–2026 Predicting discharge to institutional long-term care following acute hospitalisation: a systematic review and meta-analysis ()
Costs and economicsWhat dementia costs — to families, to insurers and to the country — and who ends up paying. 199 180 46 1990–2026 Dementia Incidence, Burden and Cost of Care: A Filipino Community-Based Study ()
Digital health toolsApps, wearables, online tests and other technology used to detect, monitor or support people with dementia. 1,094 1,044 46 1963–2026 Effectiveness of Implementing a Collaborative Chronic Care Model for Clinician Teams on Patient Outcomes and Health Status in Mental Health: A Randomized Clinical Trial ()

Who gets it, and how often

1,897 studies
Who gets it, and how often: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
How common it isCounting patterns across whole populations: who gets dementia, at what age, and how that is changing. 522 490 57 1981–2026 Lifetime risk and projected burden of dementia ()
Long-term cohort studiesLarge groups of people followed for years, tracking who develops dementia and what came before it. 542 526 54 1991–2026 Sleep Architecture, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and Cognitive Function in Adults ()
DisparitiesDifferences in dementia risk, diagnosis and care across race, ethnicity, income, geography and sex. 833 808 49 1984–2026 Representation of Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in Dementia Prevention Trials: A Systematic Review ()
Related conditions and groups: subjects in the research library
Subject Studies Peer-reviewed Median score Years Highest-scoring study
Lewy body dementiaDementia with Lewy bodies and related conditions: how they differ from Alzheimer's in symptoms, diagnosis and care. 566 547 51 1967–2026 A multicentre validation study of the diagnostic value of plasma neurofilament light ()
Down syndrome and Alzheimer'sAlzheimer's in adults with Down syndrome: how it is detected, tracked and treated in this group. 664 640 39 1975–2026 Prevalence of epilepsy among people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review ()

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