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42/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 42 out of 100. Disparities

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Background Clinicopathological studies have demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD) is often accompanied by clinically undetectable comorbid neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular disease that alter the rate of cognitive decline. Aside from causing increased variability in clinical response, it is possible that the major ADD comorbidities may not respond to ADD-specific molecular therapeutics. Objective As most reports have focused on comorbidity in the oldest-old, its extent in younger age groups that are more likely to be involved in clinical trials is largely unknown; our objective is to provide this information. Methods We conducted a survey of neuropathological comorbidities in sporadic ADD using data from the US National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. Subject data was restricted to those with dementia and meeting National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association intermediate or high AD Neuropathological Change levels, excluding those with known autosomal dominant AD-related mutations. Results Highly prevalent ADD comorbidities are not restricted to the oldest-old but are common even in early-onset ADD. The percentage of cases with ADD as the sole major neuropathological diagnosis is highest in the under-60 group, where "pure" ADD cases are still in the minority at 44%. After this AD as a sole major pathology in ADD declines to roughly 20%in the 70s and beyond. Lewy body disease is the most common comorbidity at younger ages but actually is less common at later ages, while for most others, their prevalence increases with age. Conclusion Alzheimer's disease neuropathological comorbidities are highly prevalent even in the younger-old.

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APA 7th

Beach, T. G., & Malek-Ahmadi, M. (2021). Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathological Comorbidities are Common in the Younger-Old. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-201213

Vancouver

Beach TG, Malek-Ahmadi M. Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathological Comorbidities are Common in the Younger-Old. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. 2021. doi:10.3233/jad-201213. PMID: 33285640.

BibTeX

@article{beach2021-33285640,
  author  = {Beach, T. G. and Malek-Ahmadi, M.},
  title   = {{Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathological Comorbidities are Common in the Younger-Old}},
  journal = {Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.3233/jad-201213},
  pmid    = {33285640},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-201213}
}

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How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
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What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Background Clinicopathological studies have demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD) is often accompanied by clinically undetectable comorbid neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular disease that alter the rate of cognitive decline.
Results Highly prevalent ADD comorbidities are not restricted to the oldest-old but are common even in early-onset ADD.

Why it matters

This survey found that Alzheimer's disease dementia is often accompanied by other neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases that are not detected clinically. These comorbidities were common even in younger-old people, and pure Alzheimer's disease was in the minority even in the under-60 group.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 42/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	Journal of Alzheimer s Disease: journal h-index 218 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
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	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	3 / 5	2021 — within 6 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)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	4 / 7	Cited 85 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	12.1 citations a year over 7 year(s) since 2021
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 6.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	2 / 6	Cited by 6 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 46 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Michael H. Malek‐Ahmadi: h-index 33 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	0 / 3	Banner Sun Health Research Institute: institution h-index 285 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 33285640)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	42 / 100	—

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