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.

63/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 63 out of 100. Digital health tools

Reviewed as evidence on: Speech / language features and brain aging / dementia 4 studies (what the news said). Being listed means the study bears on the question, not that it agrees with the news.

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Previous studies from our group have shown that language changes may be reflected in connected speech production in the earliest stages of typical Alzheimer's disease. Individual case analysis revealed that subtle changes in language were evident during the prodromal stages of Alzheimer's disease, with two-thirds of patients with mild cognitive impairment showing significant but heterogeneous changes in connected speech. Subsequent examination of these measures revealed significant linear trends over the three stages of disease in syntactic complexity, semantic and lexical content.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Moderate

This is a follow-up (cohort) study. This study examined connected speech as a marker of disease progression in people with autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease. It found that subtle language changes were evident in the prodromal stages and showed linear trends over disease stages, but it is about tracking progression, not treatment or cure.

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

Ahmed, S., Haigh, A. M., de Jager, C. A., & Garrard, P. (2013). Connected speech as a marker of disease progression in autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease. Brain : a journal of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awt269

Vancouver

Ahmed S, Haigh AM, de Jager CA, Garrard P. Connected speech as a marker of disease progression in autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease. Brain : a journal of neurology. 2013. doi:10.1093/brain/awt269. PMID: 24142144.

BibTeX

@article{ahmed2013-24142144,
  author  = {Ahmed, S. and Haigh, A. M. and de Jager, C. A. and Garrard, P.},
  title   = {{Connected speech as a marker of disease progression in autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {Brain : a journal of neurology},
  year    = {2013},
  doi     = {10.1093/brain/awt269},
  pmid    = {24142144},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awt269}
}

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.

How to read this study

Design: this is a follow-up (cohort) study. People are observed over time and not assigned to anything, so an association can reflect other differences between groups. Look at how long follow-up lasted, how many dropped out, and whether the authors adjusted for age, education and other health conditions.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
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 moderate. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Moderate means the abstract mentions a cohort, case-control or longitudinal design. 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

Previous studies from our group have shown that language changes may be reflected in connected speech production in the earliest stages of typical Alzheimer's disease.
Individual case analysis revealed that subtle changes in language were evident during the prodromal stages of Alzheimer's disease, with two-thirds of patients with mild cognitive impairment showing significant but heterogeneous changes in connected speech.
Subsequent examination of these measures revealed significant linear trends over the three stages of disease in syntactic complexity, semantic and lexical content.

Why it matters

This study examined connected speech as a marker of disease progression in people with autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease. It found that subtle language changes were evident in the prodromal stages and showed linear trends over disease stages, but it is about tracking progression, not treatment or cure.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Digital health →

Study details

Study designcohort study
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 63/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a cohort study following people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain : a journal of neurology)
Journal's citation record	4 / 4	Brain: journal h-index 503 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A cohort study following 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	1 / 5	2013 — 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)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	6 / 7	Cited 360 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	4 / 5	24.0 citations a year over 15 year(s) since 2013
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 4.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 12 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 109 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Peter Garrard: h-index 39 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Oxford: institution h-index 2,205 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 2 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 24142144)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	63 / 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. Showing 12 of 17.

Later studies that cite this one

12 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references. Showing the 8 highest-scoring.

Related studies in Digital health tools from nearby years

Also tagged “speech-language-markers-of-cognitive-decline”

4 studies in the library carry the topic tag “speech-language-markers-of-cognitive-decline”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 4 tagged studies.

Studies sharing this one's topic tags

Similar studies

More on Digital health tools

See all studies in Digital health tools →