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50/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 50 out of 100. Caregiving

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

The main neurological causes of morbidity and mortality are stroke and dementia. We contend that the most relevant and readily communicated risk estimate for stroke and dementia is lifetime risk, which is the probability of someone of a given age and sex developing a condition during their remaining lifespan. Lifetime risk estimates describe the population burden; however, they can be refined with risk-stratified models to enable individual risk prediction. Community-based data on a group of North Americans of European descent indicate that the lifetime risk of stroke for a middle-aged woman is 1 in 5 and for a middle-aged man is 1 in 6. The lifetime risk of stroke was equal to the lifetime risk of dementia and equal to or greater than the lifetime risk of Alzheimer's disease (1 in 5 and 1 in 10 for women and men, respectively), and the lifetime risk of stroke or dementia was greater than 1 in 3. Thus, the lifetime burden attributable to common neurological disease is immense.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Low

This is a narrative review. In a community-based Framingham Study group of North Americans of European descent, a middle-aged woman's lifetime risk of stroke was 1 in 5 and a man's was 1 in 6. The lifetime risk of stroke matched that of dementia and was equal to or greater than that of Alzheimer's disease (1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 for men), and more than 1 in 3 people developed stroke or dementia.

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

Seshadri, S., & Wolf, P. A. (2007). Lifetime risk of stroke and dementia: current concepts, and estimates from the Framingham Study. The Lancet. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(07)70291-0

Vancouver

Seshadri S, Wolf PA. Lifetime risk of stroke and dementia: current concepts, and estimates from the Framingham Study. The Lancet. Neurology. 2007. doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(07)70291-0. PMID: 18031707.

BibTeX

@article{seshadri2007-18031707,
  author  = {Seshadri, S. and Wolf, P. A.},
  title   = {{Lifetime risk of stroke and dementia: current concepts, and estimates from the Framingham Study}},
  journal = {The Lancet. Neurology},
  year    = {2007},
  doi     = {10.1016/s1474-4422(07)70291-0},
  pmid    = {18031707},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(07)70291-0}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a narrative review. It summarises a field without a fixed search method, so it shows how authors read the evidence rather than measuring it. Use it to find the primary studies, not as a result in itself.
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 low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. 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.

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Key findings

Community-based data on a group of North Americans of European descent indicate that the lifetime risk of stroke for a middle-aged woman is 1 in 5 and for a middle-aged man is 1 in 6.

Why it matters

In a community-based Framingham Study group of North Americans of European descent, a middle-aged woman's lifetime risk of stroke was 1 in 5 and a man's was 1 in 6. The lifetime risk of stroke matched that of dementia and was equal to or greater than that of Alzheimer's disease (1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 for men), and more than 1 in 3 people developed stroke or dementia. The authors argue that lifetime risk is the clearest way to communicate this burden, but these are population figures: predicting an individual's risk needs risk-stratified models.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 50/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, 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 (The Lancet. Neurology)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	The Lancet Neurology: journal h-index 457 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2007 — 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 372 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	17.7 citations a year over 21 year(s) since 2007
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 5.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 19 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 73 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Philip A. Wolf: h-index 149 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Boston University: institution h-index 1,456 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 18031707)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	50 / 100	—

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