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A Review of Alzheimer’s Pathophysiology, Diagnostic Methods, and Multimodal Techniques
Khan HU, Waris A, Saeed A, Nadeem M.. Preprints.org, 2026-09-24
Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurologic condition that is categorized by a progressive loss of neurons with time. It is a particularly frequent kind of dementia and mostly impacts cognitive and motor functions. It’s prevalent in the elderly population, but the onset occurs at an incredibly early age. Early identification of AD is crucial for the successful management of the condition and for the development of novel treatments that can halt or reverse it. Because clinical symptoms may appear after substantial pathological changes have occurred, early diagnosis remains challenging despite major advances in imaging and fluid biomarkers. The situation is made worse by the expensive diagnostic techniques that are time-consuming and that cannot detect AD at an early stage. There is a better chance for potential treatments to work in the preliminary stages as no significant neuronal damage has occurred in its initial stages, which is why early detection is critical. There are many screening techniques, but they do not yet have the necessary sensitivity and specificity to correctly diagnose the condition. One approach to improve the diagnostic method for early AD detection is based on combining two or more diagnostic methods. The multi-modal approach is more effective in detecting AD early in its progression as well as differentiating it from other neurological conditions. This approach also allows for the accurate classification of patients into various stages of the disease. This review covers two topics: Alzheimer's neuropathology hypotheses and diagnostic methods. It gives an overview of different hypotheses including amyloid, tau, inflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. The review also examines various diagnostic methods such as gait and speech analysis, and multi-modal approaches.
Key findings
- There is a better chance for potential treatments to work in the preliminary stages as no significant neuronal damage has occurred in its initial stages, which is why early detection is critical.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 16/100
Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 21 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 13 of the 62 points we could judge it on, which is 21 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 2 / 10 | Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (Preprints.org) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 4 / 10 | Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 13 / 62 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 13 of the 62 points we could judge it on is 21 out of 100. |
| Total | 21 / 100 | Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article. |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Khan, H. U., Waris, A., Saeed, A., & Nadeem, M. (2026). A Review of Alzheimer’s Pathophysiology, Diagnostic Methods, and Multimodal Techniques. Preprints.org. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202609.2203.v1
Vancouver
Khan HU, Waris A, Saeed A, Nadeem M. A Review of Alzheimer’s Pathophysiology, Diagnostic Methods, and Multimodal Techniques. Preprints.org. 2026. doi:10.20944/preprints202609.2203.v1.
BibTeX
@article{khan2026-df141e57,
author = {Khan, H. U. and Waris, A. and Saeed, A. and Nadeem, M.},
title = {{A Review of Alzheimer’s Pathophysiology, Diagnostic Methods, and Multimodal Techniques}},
journal = {Preprints.org},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.20944/preprints202609.2203.v1},
url = {https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202609.2203.v1}
}
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