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55/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 55 out of 100. Genetics

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Background Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is widely viewed as the transition phase between normal aging and Alzheimer disease (AD). Given that MCI can also result from cerebrovascular disease (CVD), the authors used clinical, MRI, and cognitive measures of AD and CVD to test the hypothesis that CVD increases the likelihood of progression from MCI to dementia within 3 years. Objective To examine the impact of CVD on progression of MCI to dementia. Methods Fifty-two consecutive patients with MCI (71% men) including many with symptomatic CVD were longitudinally evaluated for 3.1 +/- 1.3 years. MCI was defined as a Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) score of 0.5. Dementia was defined as progression to a CDR score of > or =1.0. Results Forty-four percent of the MCI patients had MRI infarcts, 50% of which were symptomatic. Thirty-three percent of patients progressed to dementia, and 37.8% of these had MRI infarcts. Clinically probable or possible AD was diagnosed in approximately 82% of converters. Of the clinical and MRI measures, only hippocampal volume was associated with increased risk to progression (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.31 [95% CI 0.1 to 0.92], p = 0.03). When neuropsychological measures were included in the analysis, memory (HR = 0.90 [95% CI 0.84 to 0.96], p = 0.002) and executive function (HR = 0.96 [95% CI 0.92 to 1.0], p = 0.045) were associated with increased risk of dementia progression, whereas APOE genotype, cerebrovascular risk factors, clinical stroke, presence or absence of lacunes, and extent of white matter hyperintensities did not predict progression. Conclusion Within a heterogenous group of MCI patients, including many with clinically significant CVD, baseline memory and executive performance significantly predicted likelihood to develop dementia.

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APA 7th

DeCarli, C., Mungas, D., Harvey, D., Reed, B., Weiner, M., Chui, H., et al. (2004). Memory impairment, but not cerebrovascular disease, predicts progression of MCI to dementia. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000130531.90205.ef

Vancouver

DeCarli C, Mungas D, Harvey D, Reed B, Weiner M, Chui H, et al. Memory impairment, but not cerebrovascular disease, predicts progression of MCI to dementia. Neurology. 2004. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000130531.90205.ef. PMID: 15277612.

BibTeX

@article{decarli2004-15277612,
  author  = {DeCarli, C. and Mungas, D. and Harvey, D. and Reed, B. and Weiner, M. and Chui, H. and Jagust, W.},
  title   = {{Memory impairment, but not cerebrovascular disease, predicts progression of MCI to dementia}},
  journal = {Neurology},
  year    = {2004},
  doi     = {10.1212/01.wnl.0000130531.90205.ef},
  pmid    = {15277612},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000130531.90205.ef}
}

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 names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

Key findings

Given that MCI can also result from cerebrovascular disease (CVD), the authors used clinical, MRI, and cognitive measures of AD and CVD to test the hypothesis that CVD increases the likelihood of progression from MCI to dementia within 3 years.
Results Forty-four percent of the MCI patients had MRI infarcts, 50% of which were symptomatic.
Of the clinical and MRI measures, only hippocampal volume was associated with increased risk to progression (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.31 [95% CI 0.1 to 0.92], p = 0.03).
When neuropsychological measures were included in the analysis, memory (HR = 0.90 [95% CI 0.84 to 0.96], p = 0.002) and executive function (HR = 0.96 [95% CI 0.92 to 1.0], p = 0.045) were associated with increased risk of dementia progression, whereas APOE genotype, cerebrovascular risk factors, clinical stroke, presence or absence of lacunes, and extent of white matter hyperintensities did not predict progression.
Conclusion Within a heterogenous group of MCI patients, including many with clinically significant CVD, baseline memory and executive performance significantly predicted likelihood to develop dementia.

Why it matters

This study followed 52 people with mild cognitive impairment, many of them with stroke or other blood-vessel disease in the brain, for about three years; a third developed dementia, and most of those were diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Poorer memory scores and a smaller hippocampus predicted who progressed, and executive function was a borderline predictor, while past stroke, small infarcts, white-matter changes, vascular risk factors and APOE genotype did not. Because the group was small, these null results do not show that vascular disease or APOE are unimportant, and the study tested no treatment.

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Study details

Effect sizeor 3.1; or =1.0; 37.8%
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 55/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology)
Journal's citation record	4 / 4	Neurology: journal h-index 525 (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	2004 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	5 / 7	Cited 274 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	11.4 citations a year over 24 year(s) since 2004
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 11.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	4 / 6	Cited by 39 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 34 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author William J. Jagust: h-index 152 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of California, San Francisco: institution h-index 1,915 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	2 / 3	PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 15277612)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	55 / 100	—

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