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53/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 53 out of 100. Caregiving

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

Background Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) describes later life acquired, sustained neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in cognitively normal individuals or those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as an at-risk state for incident cognitive decline and dementia. We developed an operational definition of MBI and tested whether the presence of MBI was related to caregiver burden in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or MCI assessed at a memory clinic. Methods MBI was assessed in 282 consecutive memory clinic patients with SCD (n = 119) or MCI (n = 163) in accordance with the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment - Alzheimer's Association (ISTAART-AA) research diagnostic criteria. We operationalized a definition of MBI using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q). Caregiver burden was assessed using the Zarit caregiver burden scale. Generalized linear regression was used to model the effect of MBI domains on caregiver burden. Results While MBI was more prevalent in MCI (85.3%) than in SCD (76.5%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). Prevalence estimates across MBI domains were affective dysregulation (77.8%); impulse control (64.4%); decreased motivation (51.7%); social inappropriateness (27.8%); and abnormal perception or thought content (8.7%). Affective dysregulation (p = 0.03) and decreased motivation (p=0.01) were more prevalent in MCI than SCD patients. Caregiver burden was 3.35 times higher when MBI was present after controlling for age, education, sex, and MCI (p Conclusions MBI was common in memory clinic patients without dementia and was associated with greater caregiver burden. These data show that MBI is a common and clinically relevant syndrome.

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APA 7th

Sheikh, F., Ismail, Z., Mortby, M. E., Barber, P., Cieslak, A., Fischer, K., et al. (2018). Prevalence of mild behavioral impairment in mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline, and its association with caregiver burden. International psychogeriatrics. https://doi.org/10.1017/s104161021700151x

Vancouver

Sheikh F, Ismail Z, Mortby ME, Barber P, Cieslak A, Fischer K, et al. Prevalence of mild behavioral impairment in mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline, and its association with caregiver burden. International psychogeriatrics. 2018. doi:10.1017/s104161021700151x. PMID: 28879833.

BibTeX

@article{sheikh2018-28879833,
  author  = {Sheikh, F. and Ismail, Z. and Mortby, M. E. and Barber, P. and Cieslak, A. and Fischer, K. and Granger, R. and Hogan, D. B. and others},
  title   = {{Prevalence of mild behavioral impairment in mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline, and its association with caregiver burden}},
  journal = {International psychogeriatrics},
  year    = {2018},
  doi     = {10.1017/s104161021700151x},
  pmid    = {28879833},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1017/s104161021700151x}
}

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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 119 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record reports “85.3%; 76.5%; 77.8%”. A statistically significant result can still be small in daily life.

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 While MBI was more prevalent in MCI (85.3%) than in SCD (76.5%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06).
Caregiver burden was 3.35 times higher when MBI was present after controlling for age, education, sex, and MCI (p Conclusions MBI was common in memory clinic patients without dementia and was associated with greater caregiver burden.

Why it matters

This study found that mild behavioral impairment was common in memory clinic patients without dementia and was linked to greater caregiver burden. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.

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Study details

Participants119
Effect size85.3%; 76.5%; 77.8%
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 53/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (International psychogeriatrics)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	International Psychogeriatrics: journal h-index 161 (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	2 / 5	2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	119 participants
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
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	5 / 7	Cited 178 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	17.8 citations a year over 10 year(s) since 2018
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 6.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 11 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 68 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Australian National University: institution h-index 1,088 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 28879833)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	51 / 96	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100.
Total	53 / 100	—

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