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72/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 72 out of 100. Cognitive tests and assessment

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Background Aerobic exercise has shown inconsistent cognitive effects in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. Objective To examine the immediate and longitudinal effects of 6-month cycling on cognition in older adults with AD dementia. Methods This randomized controlled trial randomized 96 participants (64 to cycling and 32 to stretching for six months) and followed them for another six months.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: High

This is a trial of 96 participants. This randomized controlled trial assigned 96 participants with Alzheimer's disease dementia to 6 months of moderate-intensity cycling or light-intensity stretching and followed them for another 6 months. It tested whether aerobic exercise affects cognition but does not establish a treatment, cure, or prevention for the disease.

Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.

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

APA 7th

Yu, F., Vock, D. M., Zhang, L., Salisbury, D., Nelson, N. W., Chow, L. S., et al. (2021). Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-201100

Vancouver

Yu F, Vock DM, Zhang L, Salisbury D, Nelson NW, Chow LS, et al. Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. 2021. doi:10.3233/jad-201100. PMID: 33523004.

BibTeX

@article{yu2021-33523004,
  author  = {Yu, F. and Vock, D. M. and Zhang, L. and Salisbury, D. and Nelson, N. W. and Chow, L. S. and Smith, G. and Barclay, T. R. and others},
  title   = {{Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial}},
  journal = {Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.3233/jad-201100},
  pmid    = {33523004},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-201100}
}

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.

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 96 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.

New to reading papers? Six questions to ask of any Alzheimer’s study · how we score.

Key findings

Objective To examine the immediate and longitudinal effects of 6-month cycling on cognition in older adults with AD dementia.
Methods This randomized controlled trial randomized 96 participants (64 to cycling and 32 to stretching for six months) and followed them for another six months.
The intervention was supervised, moderate-intensity cycling for 20-50 minutes, 3 times a week for six months.
The control was light-intensity stretching.

Why it matters

This randomized controlled trial assigned 96 participants with Alzheimer's disease dementia to 6 months of moderate-intensity cycling or light-intensity stretching and followed them for another 6 months. It tested whether aerobic exercise affects cognition but does not establish a treatment, cure, or prevention for the disease.

Study details

Study designrandomized controlled trial
Participants96
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.

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	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	3 / 5	2021 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	1 / 4	96 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	1 / 2	Randomized (as stated in the record)
Times cited	5 / 7	Cited 156 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	4 / 5	22.3 citations a year over 7 year(s) since 2021
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 14.3× 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 100 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Jean F. Wyman: h-index 56 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Minnesota: institution h-index 1,568 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 33523004)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	72 / 100	—

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

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

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