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A systematic review of the public's knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Cahill S, Pierce M, Werner P, Darley A, Bobersky A.. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders, 2015-07-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
This paper reports findings from a systematic review of the literature on the general public's knowledge and understanding of dementia/Alzheimer's disease. The key purpose of the review was to evaluate existing literature with specific attention paid to conceptual and methodological issues and to key findings. Over a 20-year period, 40 published articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. Only 4 of these were qualitative and 5 were cross-national. The review revealed a lack of consistency across studies regarding how knowledge was operationalized, approaches to sampling, response rates, and data collection instruments used including validated scales. A consistent finding across the vast majority of studies was the only fair to moderate knowledge and understanding the general public had. The most common misconception was that dementia was a normal part of aging and there was a lack of clarity about at which point normal age-related memory loss problems become severe enough to indicate dementia. Knowledge of dementia was found to be particularly poor among racial and ethnic minority groups where several myths about causes of dementia were found. Findings point to the need for more educational and advocacy programmes on dementia to be developed particularly in low-income to middle-income countries.
Key findings
- The review revealed a lack of consistency across studies regarding how knowledge was operationalized, approaches to sampling, response rates, and data collection instruments used including validated scales.
Why it matters
This systematic review found that the general public had only fair to moderate knowledge and understanding of dementia, with the most common misconception being that dementia is a normal part of aging. It also found that knowledge was particularly poor among racial and ethnic minority groups, and points to the need for more educational and advocacy programmes.
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Study details
- Study designsystematic review
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 58/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a systematic review of all the studies on the question. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported and studied in people because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 56 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 58 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Alzheimer disease and associated disorders) |
| Journal's citation record | 1 / 4 | Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders: journal h-index 131 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A systematic review of all the studies on the question |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 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 | A review of other studies — randomisation is not credited here |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 263 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 20.2 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 1.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 72 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Andrea Bobersky holds only 2 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Trinity College Dublin: institution h-index 926 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26207322) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 56 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 56 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 58 out of 100. |
| Total | 58 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 6 Feb 1020), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
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
Cahill, S., Pierce, M., Werner, P., Darley, A., & Bobersky, A. (2015). A systematic review of the public's knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders. https://doi.org/10.1097/wad.0000000000000102
Vancouver
Cahill S, Pierce M, Werner P, Darley A, Bobersky A. A systematic review of the public's knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders. 2015. doi:10.1097/wad.0000000000000102. PMID: 26207322.
BibTeX
@article{cahill2015-26207322,
author = {Cahill, S. and Pierce, M. and Werner, P. and Darley, A. and Bobersky, A.},
title = {{A systematic review of the public's knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia}},
journal = {Alzheimer disease and associated disorders},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1097/wad.0000000000000102},
pmid = {26207322},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/wad.0000000000000102}
}
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