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.
-
Analyzing data from more than 1,500 family caregivers from the 1996 National Caregiver Survey, this study documents the ways in which dementia care is different from other types of family caregiving.
Why it matters
Comparing over 1,500 family caregivers, dementia caregivers spent more hours caring and reported greater strain, health problems and family conflict than other caregivers. This is about the impact of caregiving, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
-
53/100
We assessed the risk of dementia by educational level in a prospective population-based study.
Why it matters
This Rotterdam Study found that low education was associated with higher dementia risk in women but not men, and suggested cross-sectional studies may overrate this association. It is an observational finding about education and risk, not a treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
53/100
If depression is associated with apathy, then they should be expressed together in different dementia syndromes and should co-occur at varying levels of disease severity.
Why it matters
In this cross-sectional comparison of patients with several dementia syndromes, apathy did not correlate with depression and was linked to lower cognitive function instead. The authors conclude apathy is a distinct syndrome from depression, which matters for choosing the right treatment, but no treatment was tested.
-
53/100
Alcoholism is a possible cause of dementia, mainly through associated nutritional deficiencies and, rarely, through acute direct toxicity.
Why it matters
In this study, people who drank 3 to 4 glasses of wine a day had lower odds of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease than non-drinkers, even after adjusting for other factors. However, this was an observational study, so it cannot prove that wine drinking itself prevents dementia.
-
In the absence of other prior neurologic insult, both AD and other dementias increase the risk of generalized- and partial-onset unprovoked seizures.
-
Hearing loss significantly lowered performance on the verbal parts of the Mini-Mental State Examination.
Why it matters
In this cohort study, central auditory dysfunction was found to precede dementia in a significant number of cases and the authors suggest it may be an early marker for dementia. The study is observational, so it does not show that treating hearing problems prevents or delays dementia.
-
Pain is an understudied problem in frail elderly patients, especially those with cognitive impairment, delirium, or dementia.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional study of nursing home patients found that 62% reported pain complaints, mostly musculoskeletal and neuropathic, but pain was not consistently documented and management strategies appeared limited. It concludes that cognitive impairment among elderly nursing home residents presents a substantial barrier to pain assessment and management.
-
53/100
Clinical and neuropathological criteria forfrontotemporal dementia * Early loss of insight into the fact that the altered condition is due to a pathological change of own mental state.
Why it matters
This paper presents clinical and neuropathological criteria for frontotemporal dementia, a condition distinct from Alzheimer's disease. It does not test a treatment or cure for Alzheimer's disease.
-
L-deprenyl did not have a measurable impact on behavior or cognitive function over a 2-month period in this group of subjects with mild DAT.
Why it matters
In this 2-month report from a trial of 39 people with mild dementia of the Alzheimer type, L-deprenyl had no measurable effect on behavior or cognitive function compared with placebo. The authors concluded L-deprenyl did not have a measurable impact over this period.
-
We report five patients with a stereotyped clinical syndrome characterized by fluent dysphasia with severe anomia, reduced vocabulary and prominent impairment of single-word comprehension, progressing to a stage of virtually complete dissolution of the semantic components of language.
Why it matters
Reports five patients with a syndrome of fluent speech with severe word-finding and word-comprehension problems, while grammar and day-to-day memory were relatively preserved, and proposes the term semantic dementia for it. Imaging showed marked temporal lobe atrophy in all five.
-
Selegiline, an inhibitor of monoamine oxidase B, was tested on patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type.
Why it matters
In this three-month single-blind trial of 40 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer-type dementia, selegiline produced significantly greater improvements on most cognitive tests than phosphatidylserine, and the selegiline group also showed increased autonomy in day-to-day activities. Tolerability was good, with only slight or moderate nausea reported in both groups.
-
When a patient with cancer develops a brain metastasis, death is usually imminent, but aggressive treatment in some patients with limited or no systemic disease yields long-term survival.
Why it matters
This report describes 12 patients cured of brain metastases who developed progressive dementia, ataxia, and urinary incontinence after whole brain radiotherapy with certain fractionation schedules. It concerns radiation-induced dementia and does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
-
Of 70 autopsied patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), 46 suffered progressive dementia that was frequently accompanied by motor and behavioral dysfunction.
Why it matters
This paper describes the clinical features of dementia in patients with AIDS, including memory and concentration problems, motor and behavioral changes, and a progressive course. It concerns AIDS dementia complex and does not address treatment, cure or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
-
In order to determine the meaning of cognitive impairment in community dwelling elderly, 3,481 adults were interviewed in their homes using the Mini-Mental State Examination.
Why it matters
In this community survey, 33% of elderly people scoring in the range of 0–23 on the Mini-Mental State Examination had no diagnosable DSM-III condition, showing that low scores do not always mean dementia. Prevalence of dementia from all causes was 6.1% of the population over age 65, and 2% were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
-
Twenty-four patients of comparable age, blood pressure, and degree of dementia were classified by an "Ischemic Score" based on clinical features into "multi-infarct" and "primary degenerative" dementia.
Why it matters
This study compared cerebral blood flow in patients with multi-infarct dementia and primary degenerative dementia, finding that blood flow was normal in the primary degenerative group but low in the multi-infarct group. It does not test a treatment or cure, but describes differences in blood flow between these types of dementia.
-
Why it matters
Concerns the assessment of older people's ability to manage self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Measuring everyday functioning matters for planning care, but it is not a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
-
The ageing of many populations in recent years has directed increasing attention to the social, medical and biological problems of senescence.
Why it matters
This paper discusses the steep increase in mental disorder with advancing age, noting that beyond 75 years much of this increase is accounted for by disorders associated with degenerative changes in the central nervous system for which remedies are lacking at the present time. It cites survey estimates of senile dementia prevalence in elderly populations.
-
Of 57 participants (mean age ± SD = 66.6 ± 7.2 years; female = 52.6%), 38.6% (n = 22) had MCI-level functional impairment and 17.5% (n = 10) had dementia-level functional impairment.
Why it matters
This small study of 57 people with epilepsy found that many had memory or thinking problems affecting daily activities, and about a third got worse over two years. It does not test any treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
-
Among nursing home residents with dementia, discontinuing long-term antipsychotic medication use was associated with lower risks of hospitalization, pneumonia, and urinary tract infections, suggesting clinical benefits in this population.
Why it matters
This cohort study found that discontinuing long-term antipsychotics in nursing home residents with dementia was associated with lower risk of all-cause hospitalization compared with continued use. It suggests that stopping these medications may improve some clinical outcomes.
-
Hearing aid use was associated with a modestly lower risk of probable dementia overall (Hazard Ratios, HR, 0.91), but the association was confined to participants reporting improvements in hearing (HR 0.86), with no apparent benefit among those reporting poor improvement in hearing (HR 0.98).
Why it matters
In a pooled analysis of over 61,000 adults with hearing loss, hearing aid use was linked to a modestly lower risk of probable dementia, but this was seen only in people who reported that their hearing actually improved. The authors argue that the quality of hearing rehabilitation, not just getting a hearing aid, may matter for dementia prevention.
-
One-third of adults with neurological conditions in China have low health literacy, with pronounced socioeconomic and geographic disparities.
Why it matters
In this cross-sectional survey of 1,120 adults with chronic neurological conditions in China, low health literacy was common and was linked to more emergency department use, poorer medication adherence, and lower quality of life. Low health literacy was most frequent in dementia (68%), and the study identifies education, rural residency, low income, out-of-pocket financing, and digital exclusion as associated factors, but it did not test any treatment or prevention.
-
Our study included 467 caregivers. Most (92.5%) caregivers performed at least one health care interaction task.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional study of 467 caregivers found that most perform health care tasks such as speaking to providers and making appointments, and that transitioning care after a hospital stay was rated most difficult. It does not test a treatment or cure; it identifies caregiver difficulties that the authors say should be recognized and assessed in the GUIDE Model.
-
The results of this study indicate an AD-specific peripheral complement signature associated with disease development, highlighting complement factors as critical immune mediators that link aging and AD.
Why it matters
Over 10 years, a specific pattern of complement protein changes in blood appeared more strongly in people who later developed Alzheimer's and was not seen in other dementias. This identifies possible predictive markers, but it does not show that measuring or altering these factors prevents or treats the disease.
-
Palliative care was associated with a higher risk of hospitalization in the first 90 days (e.g., hazard ratio (HR) 1.43 at 30 days; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-1.64), which was driven predominantly by hospitalization with palliative intent, but was no longer significantly different beyond 180 days, compared to not receiving palliative care. [Correction added on 31 January 2026, after first online publication: The preceding sentence has been revised in this version.]
Why it matters
This cohort study found that palliative care initiation was associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation in the first 90 days and a higher risk of ICU admission in the first 30 days among community-dwelling adults living with dementia in Canada, with no significant difference beyond 180 days. It suggests the current approach to delivering palliative care services may paradoxically increase early acute care use, likely reflecting system gaps and unmet needs.
-
Among 209,468 decedents, 95,594 were selected after matching.
Why it matters
This nationwide cohort study found that home healthcare use, especially a reformed program with flexible visits and hospital-physician coordination, was associated with a higher likelihood of dying at home among people with dementia. It concerns end-of-life care location and policy, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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.
- A Scoping Review of Cognitive Training in Neurodegenerative Diseases via Computerized and Virtual Reality Tools: What We Know So Far
- Incidence of dementia and cognitive impairment, not dementia in the United States
- The impact of Medicare prescription drug coverage on the use of antidementia drugs
- Cost-Effectiveness of a Digitally Supported Care Management Program for Caregivers of People With Dementia
- The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown on Caregivers of People With Dementia
- Predictors of dementia in Parkinson disease: a prospective cohort study
- Multistrategic memory training with the metamemory concept in healthy older adults
- Machine learning of neuroimaging for assisted diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia: A systematic review
- Chronic disease prevalence and care among the elderly in urban and rural Beijing, China - a 10/66 Dementia Research Group cross-sectional survey
- What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept