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54/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 54 out of 100. Brain scans and imaging

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

Objective To examine the neural basis of cognitive complaints in healthy older adults in the absence of memory impairment and to determine whether there are medial temporal lobe (MTL) gray matter (GM) changes as reported in Alzheimer disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Participants were 40 euthymic individuals with cognitive complaints (CCs) who had normal neuropsychological test performance. The authors compared their structural brain MRI scans to those of 40 patients with amnestic MCI and 40 healthy controls (HCs) using voxel-based morphometry and hippocampal volume analysis. Results The CC and MCI groups showed similar patterns of decreased GM relative to the HC group on whole brain analysis, with differences evident in the MTL, frontotemporal, and other neocortical regions. The degree of GM loss was associated with extent of both memory complaints and performance deficits. Manually segmented hippocampal volumes, adjusted for age and intracranial volume, were significantly reduced only in the MCI group, with the CC group showing an intermediate level. Conclusions Cognitive complaints in older adults may indicate underlying neurodegenerative changes even when unaccompanied by deficits on formal testing. The cognitive complaint group may represent a pre-mild cognitive impairment stage and may provide an earlier therapeutic opportunity than mild cognitive impairment. MRI analysis approaches incorporating signal intensity may have greater sensitivity in early preclinical stages than volumetric methods.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Low

The record lists 40 participants. Older adults with cognitive complaints but normal memory test performance showed gray matter loss similar to amnestic mild cognitive impairment in medial temporal and other regions, though hippocampal volumes were significantly reduced only in the MCI group. The cognitive complaint group may represent a pre-mild cognitive impairment stage offering an earlier therapeutic opportunity.

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

Saykin, A. J., Wishart, H. A., Rabin, L. A., Santulli, R. B., Flashman, L. A., West, J. D., et al. (2006). Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000234032.77541.a2

Vancouver

Saykin AJ, Wishart HA, Rabin LA, Santulli RB, Flashman LA, West JD, et al. Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI. Neurology. 2006. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000234032.77541.a2. PMID: 16966547.

BibTeX

@article{saykin2006-16966547,
  author  = {Saykin, A. J. and Wishart, H. A. and Rabin, L. A. and Santulli, R. B. and Flashman, L. A. and West, J. D. and McHugh, T. L. and Mamourian, A. C.},
  title   = {{Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI}},
  journal = {Neurology},
  year    = {2006},
  doi     = {10.1212/01.wnl.0000234032.77541.a2},
  pmid    = {16966547},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000234032.77541.a2}
}

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 8 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.

How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record lists 40 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
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

Results The CC and MCI groups showed similar patterns of decreased GM relative to the HC group on whole brain analysis, with differences evident in the MTL, frontotemporal, and other neocortical regions.
The degree of GM loss was associated with extent of both memory complaints and performance deficits.
Manually segmented hippocampal volumes, adjusted for age and intracranial volume, were significantly reduced only in the MCI group, with the CC group showing an intermediate level.

Why it matters

Older adults with cognitive complaints but normal memory test performance showed gray matter loss similar to amnestic mild cognitive impairment in medial temporal and other regions, though hippocampal volumes were significantly reduced only in the MCI group. The cognitive complaint group may represent a pre-mild cognitive impairment stage offering an earlier therapeutic opportunity.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Brain scans & tests →

Study details

Participants40
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 54/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomized / 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	2006 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	1 / 4	40 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)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	6 / 7	Cited 586 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	4 / 5	26.6 citations a year over 22 year(s) since 2006
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 13.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 29 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 60 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Alexander C. Mamourian: h-index 38 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Dartmouth College: institution h-index 771 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 16966547)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	54 / 100	—

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