Each study has a usefulness score out of 100 (rubric version 4.0). Tap a score to see what makes it up.
Highest usefulness score first. Studies without a score come last.
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Because cardiovascular (CV) risk factors have been associated with declines in cognitive functions and late life dementia, CV risk factors should also be associated with brain atrophy.
Why it matters
This study looked at whether cardiovascular risk factors are associated with brain atrophy in middle-aged and young-elderly adults. It reports associations only and does not show that treating these risk factors prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is limited because it is based on non-specific behavioral and neuroimaging findings.
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Raloxifene at a dose of 120 mg/day, but not 60 mg/day, resulted in reduced risk of cognitive impairment in postmenopausal women.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, those taking 120 mg/day of raloxifene had a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment, with somewhat lower but not statistically significant risks of Alzheimer's disease and any cognitive impairment. The trial was designed primarily for vertebral fractures, so these cognitive findings are secondary and do not establish raloxifene as a prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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It was possible to assign all patients to one of the PD stages.
Why it matters
In 88 people with Parkinson disease from one clinic, examined after brain tissue staging, lower memory-and-thinking (MMSE) scores went with more advanced Parkinson-related brain changes, and median scores fell between stages 3 and 6. The authors caution that this is not true for every person: some declined with only mild changes, while others had widespread changes without decline. The study concerns Parkinson disease, not the treatment, cure or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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These results indicate that markers of systemic inflammation confer a statistically significant additional risk for cardiovascular death among patients with RA, even after controlling for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities.
Why it matters
This study examined cardiovascular death in people with rheumatoid arthritis and whether systemic inflammation adds risk beyond traditional risk factors. It is not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Mid-life stroke risk factors have been related to late-life cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
In 1,841 community-based participants free of clinical stroke and dementia, this study examined whether midlife stroke risk factors relate to late-life cognitive impairment and global brain atrophy on MRI. It reports associations and does not show that treating stroke risk factors prevents dementia.
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The concept of cognitive impairment intervening between normal ageing and very early dementia has been in the literature for many years.
Why it matters
This 2004 review describes mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as "an early, but abnormal, state of cognitive impairment" between normal ageing and very early dementia, and argues it can be diagnosed "in a fashion similar to the clinical diagnoses of dementia and AD", presenting an algorithm to identify people with MCI and sort them into subtypes. It notes that studies have documented an "accelerated rate of progression" to dementia and Alzheimer's in people with MCI, but also that the precise definition has been controversial. It proposes criteria rather than testing them on patients, and it reports no treatment.
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FTD is a malignant disorder with limited life expectancy.
Why it matters
This study established survival in patients with pathologically confirmed frontotemporal dementia and found that the FTD-MND group had significantly shorter survival than other subgroups. Cases with tau-positive pathology had an older age at onset and a significantly better prognosis.
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Evidence from neuroimaging studies has suggested areas of the brain that may be damaged by psychological trauma.
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Central auditory speech-processing deficits may be an early manifestation of probable Alzheimer's disease and may precede the onset of dementia diagnosis by many years.
Why it matters
In this cohort, a central auditory speech-processing deficit was linked to a much higher risk of later being diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease. This is an observational finding about a possible early marker, not a treatment or cure.
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Forty-three patients with PD were demented at follow-up evaluation, equivalent to an incidence rate of 95.3 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI, 68.2 to 122.0).
Why it matters
In 171 people with Parkinson's disease but no dementia in Rogaland county, Norway, 43 had developed dementia when re-examined about 4.2 years later, a rate of 95.3 per 1,000 person-years. After adjusting for age, sex and education, their risk was 5.9 times that of 3,062 older people without Parkinson's (95% CI 3.9 to 9.1). Older age, more advanced motor disease (Hoehn & Yahr stage above 2) and baseline Mini-Mental State Examination score predicted who became demented. The study measured dementia in Parkinson's disease, not Alzheimer's disease specifically, and it tested no treatment.
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Both MSS and Activity sessions appear to be effective and appropriate therapies for people with dementia.
Why it matters
In this trial, people with moderate to severe dementia were more talkative, happier and more alert right after both multi-sensory stimulation and one-to-one activity sessions. The multi-sensory group also improved in mood and behaviour at home, but this is about short-term wellbeing, not curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Feeding tube use is significantly more common in Blacks than in Whites.
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Accurate and automated methods for measuring the thickness of human cerebral cortex could provide powerful tools for diagnosing and studying a variety of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.
Why it matters
Presents an automated method for measuring the thickness of the cerebral cortex across the whole brain from MRI scans. The authors report variation between people of less than 0.5 mm, which they say could allow detection of focal shrinkage in small groups or even individuals.
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Poor performance on free recall from FCSR predicts future dementia.
Why it matters
In initially nondemented older volunteers, impaired free recall on the Free and Cued Selective Reminding test predicted a much higher rate of developing dementia over five years. This supports the idea of a preclinical phase of dementia marked by memory impairment, but it does not show how to treat, cure, or prevent it.
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Depressive symptoms appeared to be early manifestations, rather than predictors, of Alzheimer disease in this community sample.
Why it matters
This community study found that depressive symptoms were much more likely to develop after the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease than in people without dementia. This suggests depression often follows dementia rather than causing it, and the study tested no treatment or prevention.
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Both behaviour and psychological functioning and the caring environment can help in predicting which patients with dementia currently living at home will enter an institution 1 year later.
Why it matters
In 100 people with dementia living at home with a carer in Oxfordshire, UK, the strongest predictors of moving into an institution a year later were excessive night-time activity, difficulty walking, incontinence, spending more than 16 hours a week away from the carer, and having a female carer. Aggressive behaviour did not predict a move a year ahead, though it was more common in the 4 months before one. The authors note these predictors "are not the same as those which are the immediate cause of institutionalization," and the study tested no treatment.
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A simple analysis of funnel plots provides a useful test for the likely presence of bias in meta-analyses, but as the capacity to detect bias will be limited when meta-analyses are based on a limited number of small trials the results from such analyses should be treated with considerable caution.
Why it matters
Tests whether asymmetry in funnel plots, graphs of study results against sample size, can detect bias in meta-analyses. Asymmetry indicated bias in 38% of journal meta-analyses and 13% of Cochrane reviews examined. It is a statistics method, not a dementia study.
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This study provides a review and analysis of the empirical research published since 1985 that has examined the impact of race, culture, and/or ethnicity on the dementia caregiving experience.
Why it matters
This review found that, compared with White caregivers, non-White caregivers reported lower levels of caregiver stress, burden, and depression and were more likely to use prayer, faith, or religion as coping mechanisms. It concerns the caregiving experience and does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was developed to assess psychopathology in dementia patients.
Why it matters
This 1997 review describes the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), which rates how often and how severely 12 behaviour and mood changes occur in dementia, such as delusions, agitation, apathy, night-time disturbance and eating changes. A caregiver answers scripted questions, and the tool also scores how much distress each symptom causes the caregiver. The review states that the NPI is valid, reliable and able to detect treatment effects, including improvement with "cholinergic agents", but this record gives no figures, trials or patient numbers, so it explains how behaviour symptoms are measured rather than showing that any treatment works.
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57/100
Prevalence of Alzheimer disease in older Japanese-American men in Hawaii appears to be higher than in Japan but similar to European-ancestry populations.
Why it matters
Among 3,734 Japanese-American men aged 71 to 93 in Hawaii, examined in 1991 to 1993, dementia was found in 2.1% of those aged 71–74 and 33.4% of those aged 85–93 (9.3% across the whole group); 5.4% had Alzheimer disease and 4.2% vascular dementia as a primary or contributing cause, and 26% of cases had more than one possible cause. The authors concluded that Alzheimer disease in these men "appears to be higher than in Japan but similar to European-ancestry populations", while vascular dementia appeared slightly lower than in Japan but higher than in European-ancestry populations. It is a one-time count of existing cases among men of one ancestry, not a test of any cause, treatment or prevention, and it reports nothing about women.
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57/100
Single centre population based cross sectional door to door study.
Why it matters
This study examined the distribution of cognitive function in 4,971 older people and whether signs of atherosclerotic disease affect it. It looked at links between cardiovascular disease and thinking ability, which may inform understanding of risk factors but does not test any treatment.
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In a prospective longitudinal study with death as the end point in 17 middle-aged patients with Down's syndrome, dementia was clinically diagnosed in 15 patients, by means of careful observations in daily circumstances.
Why it matters
In 17 middle-aged patients with Down's syndrome followed to death, dementia was clinically diagnosed in 15, and Alzheimer-type abnormalities were found at autopsy in 9 patients, both demented and nondemented. This describes the natural history of dementia in Down's syndrome, not a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Of 115 participants (mean age 40.0 ± 9.2 years; 43.5% female), higher interdaily stability was associated with higher DSMSE scores B = 20.6 (95% CI 5.0-36.2).
Why it matters
In 115 adults with Down syndrome, more fragmented and lower-amplitude 24-hour rest-activity rhythms were associated with worse cognition and more dementia symptoms. This cross-sectional study identifies an association only and does not show that changing sleep or activity patterns treats, cures or prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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SB-C significantly differentiated cognitively unimpaired and impaired groups (P < 0.001), correlated with standard cognitive measures, and showed moderate-to-high area under the curve (0.56-0.82) for classifying biomarker positivity, with strongest results in BioFINDER-Primary Care.
Why it matters
This study found that a speech-based digital cognitive assessment differentiated cognitively unimpaired and impaired groups and correlated with standard cognitive measures. It is a marker for cognitive status and Alzheimer's disease biomarker group differences, not a treatment or cure.
From across this topic
10 of the 7,967 studies in this topic, picked by a fixed rule (a hash of each study's address), not by score or date; each page of this list shows a different 10. The same 10 appear here every time.
- Association between hearing loss and development of dementia using formal behavioural audiometric testing within the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA): a prospective population-based study
- MR-based in vivo hippocampal volumetrics: 1. Review of methodologies currently employed
- Prevalence of cognitive impairment: data from the Indianapolis Study of Health and Aging
- Observations on the brains of demented old people
- Subjective memory complaints in Chinese subjects with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease
- Pathologic findings in prospectively ascertained essential tremor subjects
- Validation of the 6-Item Cognitive Impairment Test and the 4AT test for combined delirium and dementia screening in older Emergency Department attendees
- Limited engagement in, yet clear preferences for advance care planning in young-onset dementia: An exploratory interview-study with family caregivers
- Sex differences in modifiable dementia risk factors: Findings from the Rush Memory and Aging Project
- Prediction of dementia risk by instrumental activities of daily living limitations and its impact on dementia onset in combination with mild cognitive impairment: a population-based longitudinal study