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72/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 72 out of 100. Clinical trials

Topic: Drug trials: efficacy and safety

Plain-language summary

To test whether antibodies against beta-amyloid are effective in slowing progression of Alzheimer's disease, we assessed cognitive functions in 30 patients who received a prime and a booster immunization of aggregated Abeta(42) over a 1 year period in a placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Twenty patients generated antibodies against beta-amyloid, as determined by tissue amyloid plaque immunoreactivity assay. Patients who generated such antibodies showed significantly slower rates of decline of cognitive functions and activities of daily living, as indicated by the Mini Mental State Examination, the Disability Assessment for Dementia, and the Visual Paired Associates Test of delayed recall from the Wechsler Memory Scale, as compared to patients without such antibodies. These beneficial clinical effects were also present in two of three patients who had experienced transient episodes of immunization-related aseptic meningoencephalitis. Our results establish that antibodies against beta-amyloid plaques can slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Hock, C., Konietzko, U., Streffer, JR., Tracy, J., Signorell, A., Müller-Tillmanns, B., et al. (2003). Antibodies against beta-amyloid slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. Neuron. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00294-0

Vancouver

Hock C, Konietzko U, Streffer JR, Tracy J, Signorell A, Müller-Tillmanns B, et al. Antibodies against beta-amyloid slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. Neuron. 2003. doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00294-0. PMID: 12765607.

BibTeX

@article{hock2003-12765607,
  author  = {Hock, C. and Konietzko, U. and Streffer, JR. and Tracy, J. and Signorell, A. and Müller-Tillmanns, B. and Lemke, U. and Henke, K. and others},
  title   = {{Antibodies against beta-amyloid slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {Neuron},
  year    = {2003},
  doi     = {10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00294-0},
  pmid    = {12765607},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00294-0}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a trial. Participants are assigned to a treatment or a comparison, so the key questions are who was enrolled, whether the comparison group got a placebo or nothing, how long people were followed, and whether the result is on a measure that matters to patients or on a biomarker. Open-label and small trials can overstate benefit.
Size: the record lists 30 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded high. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. High means the abstract mentions a randomized design, a meta-analysis or a systematic review. 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

Patients who generated such antibodies showed significantly slower rates of decline of cognitive functions and activities of daily living, as indicated by the Mini Mental State Examination, the Disability Assessment for Dementia, and the Visual Paired Associates Test of delayed recall from the Wechsler Memory Scale, as compared to patients without such antibodies.
Our results establish that antibodies against beta-amyloid plaques can slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

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Study details

Study designrandomized controlled trial
Participants30
Evidence strengthHigh

How this study scored 72/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, 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 multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 42 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 72 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Neuron)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	11 / 12	A randomized controlled trial
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	2003 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	1 / 4	30 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	2 / 2	Randomized and blinded or placebo-controlled (as stated in the record)
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
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 12765607)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	42 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 42 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 72 out of 100.
Total	72 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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