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CORDIAL: cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive-behavioral treatment for early dementia in Alzheimer disease: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial
Kurz A, Thöne-Otto A, Cramer B, Egert S, Frölich L, Gertz HJ, Kehl V, Wagenpfeil S et al.. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders, 2012-07-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Cognitive rehabilitation (CR) is a promising treatment approach for older adults with dementia because it aims at supporting the management of day-to-day problems. There is insufficient evidence regarding whether CR provides clinically meaningful benefits. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility, acceptance, efficacy, and usefulness of a CR intervention in a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial on 201 patients with mild dementia in Alzheimer disease and their carers. The intervention comprised 12 individual weekly sessions and combined 4 established strategies adopted from neurorehabilitation and psychotherapy. Activities of daily living were chosen as the primary outcome. The results show that the feasibility, treatment adherence, and carer commitment were excellent. However, no effect of the intervention was demonstrable on everyday functioning. There were improvements favoring the intervention on quality of life and treatment satisfaction and a significant antidepressant effect in female participants. The lack of impact on everyday activities may be due to methodological limitations including insufficient personalization, short treatment duration, poor transfer into the real-life setting, and low sensitivity of assessment instruments. The findings of this study may be helpful for designing further studies that are needed to determine the potential of CR in older adults with dementia.
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APA 7th
Kurz, A., Thöne-Otto, A., Cramer, B., Egert, S., Frölich, L., Gertz, H. J., et al. (2012). CORDIAL: cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive-behavioral treatment for early dementia in Alzheimer disease: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders. https://doi.org/10.1097/wad.0b013e318231e46e
Vancouver
Kurz A, Thöne-Otto A, Cramer B, Egert S, Frölich L, Gertz HJ, et al. CORDIAL: cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive-behavioral treatment for early dementia in Alzheimer disease: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. Alzheimer disease and associated disorders. 2012. doi:10.1097/wad.0b013e318231e46e. PMID: 21986341.
BibTeX
@article{kurz2012-21986341,
author = {Kurz, A. and Thöne-Otto, A. and Cramer, B. and Egert, S. and Frölich, L. and Gertz, H. J. and Kehl, V. and Wagenpfeil, S. and others},
title = {{CORDIAL: cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive-behavioral treatment for early dementia in Alzheimer disease: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial}},
journal = {Alzheimer disease and associated disorders},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1097/wad.0b013e318231e46e},
pmid = {21986341},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/wad.0b013e318231e46e}
}
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Key findings
- The results show that the feasibility, treatment adherence, and carer commitment were excellent.
- There were improvements favoring the intervention on quality of life and treatment satisfaction and a significant antidepressant effect in female participants.
Why it matters
In a 201-person randomized trial in mild Alzheimer's dementia, 12 weekly one-to-one cognitive rehabilitation sessions did not improve everyday functioning, the main outcome. Patients and carers stuck with the program, and secondary results favoured it on quality of life and satisfaction, with an antidepressant effect seen only in women. The authors suggest the program may have been too short and not personalised enough, with too little carry-over into daily life, and say further studies are needed to know whether cognitive rehabilitation helps.
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Study details
- Participants201
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 62/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised 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 (Alzheimer disease and associated disorders) |
| Journal's citation record | 1 / 4 | Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders: journal h-index 131 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “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 | 2012 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 201 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) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 126 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 7.9 citations a year over 16 year(s) since 2012 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 7 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 20 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Katja Werheid: h-index 29 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Technical University of Munich: institution h-index 1,092 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 21986341) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 62 / 100 | — |
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