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79/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 79 out of 100. Treatments

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Background Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people. One approach to symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease is to enhance cholinergic neurotransmission in the brain by blocking the action of the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This can be done by a group of drugs known as cholinesterase inhibitors.

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

APA 7th

Birks, J. S., & Harvey, R. J. (2018). Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd001190.pub3

Vancouver

Birks JS, Harvey RJ. Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2018. doi:10.1002/14651858.cd001190.pub3. PMID: 29923184.

BibTeX

@article{birks2018-29923184,
  author  = {Birks, J. S. and Harvey, R. J.},
  title   = {{Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {The Cochrane database of systematic reviews},
  year    = {2018},
  doi     = {10.1002/14651858.cd001190.pub3},
  pmid    = {29923184},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd001190.pub3}
}

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Key findings

One approach to symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease is to enhance cholinergic neurotransmission in the brain by blocking the action of the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
This can be done by a group of drugs known as cholinesterase inhibitors.
Donepezil is a cholinesterase inhibitor.This review is an updated version of a review first published in 1998.
Objectives To assess the clinical efficacy and safety of donepezil in people with mild, moderate or severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease; to compare the efficacy and safety of different doses of donepezil; and to assess the effect of donepezil on healthcare resource use and costs.

Why it matters

This Cochrane review, "an updated version of a review first published in 1998", set out to assess the "clinical efficacy and safety of donepezil in people with mild, moderate or severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease", to compare doses, and to assess effects on "healthcare resource use and costs". Donepezil is a cholinesterase inhibitor, which the review describes as a "symptomatic treatment" that boosts the brain chemical acetylcholine; it is not presented as a cure or prevention. The record we hold contains only the review's background and aims, not its results, so see the original for what it found.

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Study details

Study designmeta-analysis
Participants8,257
Effect sizeOR 1.25; OR 1.59
Evidence strengthHigh

How this study scored 79/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. We have no data on times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here and still being cited, so those were left out: it earned 57 of the 72 points we could judge it on, which is 79 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (The Cochrane database of systematic reviews)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: journal h-index 468 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	12 / 12	A meta-analysis pooling many studies
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	2 / 5	2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	3 / 4	8,257 participants
Effect reported	3 / 3	Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	A review of other studies — randomization is not credited here
Times cited	— / 7	Citation count not trusted: 13 of 43 library studies citing it were published more than a year before it - a sign OpenAlex merged several works under this DOI — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	Citation count not trusted (see above) — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	Citation count not trusted (see above) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Library citations not trusted (see above) — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	Citation count not trusted (see above) — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Richard J. Harvey: h-index 26 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Oxford: institution h-index 2,205 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 2 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 29923184)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	57 / 72	Scored on 15 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 57 of the 72 points we could judge it on is 79 out of 100.
Total	79 / 100	—

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