This page is alzhub.org's plain-English summary of a published study, not the paper itself. It is generated from the record we hold for this study, sourced and linked below — check the original for the full text and methods.

66/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 66 out of 100. Long-term cohort studies

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Importance Retinal structures may serve as a biomarker for dementia, but longitudinal studies examining this link are lacking. Objective To investigate the association of inner retinal layer thickness with prevalent and incident dementia in a general population of Dutch adults. Design, setting, and participants From September 2007 to June 2012, participants from the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study who were 45 years and older and had gradable retinal optical coherence tomography images and at baseline were free from stroke, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinopathy, myopia, hyperopia, and optic disc pathology were included.

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

APA 7th

Mutlu, U., Colijn, J. M., Ikram, M. A., Bonnemaijer, P. W. M., Licher, S., Wolters, F. J., et al. (2018). Association of Retinal Neurodegeneration on Optical Coherence Tomography With Dementia: A Population-Based Study. JAMA neurology. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.1563

Vancouver

Mutlu U, Colijn JM, Ikram MA, Bonnemaijer PWM, Licher S, Wolters FJ, et al. Association of Retinal Neurodegeneration on Optical Coherence Tomography With Dementia: A Population-Based Study. JAMA neurology. 2018. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.1563. PMID: 29946702.

BibTeX

@article{mutlu2018-29946702,
  author  = {Mutlu, U. and Colijn, J. M. and Ikram, M. A. and Bonnemaijer, P. W. M. and Licher, S. and Wolters, F. J. and Tiemeier, H. and Koudstaal, P. J. and others},
  title   = {{Association of Retinal Neurodegeneration on Optical Coherence Tomography With Dementia: A Population-Based Study}},
  journal = {JAMA neurology},
  year    = {2018},
  doi     = {10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.1563},
  pmid    = {29946702},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.1563}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

Key findings

Objective To investigate the association of inner retinal layer thickness with prevalent and incident dementia in a general population of Dutch adults.
Design, setting, and participants From September 2007 to June 2012, participants from the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study who were 45 years and older and had gradable retinal optical coherence tomography images and at baseline were free from stroke, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinopathy, myopia, hyperopia, and optic disc pathology were included.
They were followed up until January 1, 2015, for the onset of dementia.
Exposures Inner retinal layer thicknesses (ie, retinal nerve fiber layer [RNFL]) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thicknesses measured on optical coherence tomography images.

Why it matters

This study examined whether the thickness of inner retinal layers, measured with optical coherence tomography, is associated with dementia in a general population of Dutch adults. It is an observational study, so it cannot show that retinal changes cause dementia or that eye testing prevents it.

Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Participants5,065
Effect size64.9%; 1.2%; 2.6%
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 66/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (JAMA neurology)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	JAMA Neurology: journal h-index 235 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A longitudinal study following the same people over time
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	2 / 5	2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	3 / 4	5,065 participants
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	5 / 7	Cited 240 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	4 / 5	24.0 citations a year over 10 year(s) since 2018
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 13.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	2 / 6	Cited by 3 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 94 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author M. Kamran Ikram: h-index 86 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Erasmus MC: institution h-index 1,321 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 29946702)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	66 / 100	—

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

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Studies in the library that share something with this one. The line above each title says what.

Studies this one cites

Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.

Later studies that cite this one

3 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references.

Related studies in Long-term cohort studies

Also tagged “incidence”

1,084 studies in the library carry the topic tag “incidence”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,084 tagged studies.

Studies sharing this one's topic tags

Similar studies

More on Long-term cohort studies

See all studies in Long-term cohort studies →