Each study has a usefulness score out of 100 (rubric version 4.0). Tap a score to see what makes it up.
Download bibliography of all 8,018 studies, highest score first: BibTeX (.bib) · RIS (.ris)
Highest usefulness score first. Studies without a score come last.
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The relation between diabetes and major types of dementia is controversial.
Why it matters
This 2006 systematic review of 14 long-term population studies, "of variable methodological quality", found that dementia was more common in people with diabetes in 7 of 10 studies, including Alzheimer's disease (8 of 13) and vascular dementia (6 of 9). It gives no single estimate of how much higher the risk is. Most studies lacked data on blood-sugar control, diabetes complications, high blood pressure and stroke, so the review cannot say whether diabetes itself or these related conditions explain the link. The authors call for better studies and do not show that treating diabetes prevents dementia.
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A recent Cochrane review of reality orientation therapy identified the need for large, well-designed, multi-centre trials.
Why it matters
This randomized controlled trial tested whether cognitive stimulation therapy for older people with dementia would benefit cognition and quality of life. The record does not state the trial's results, so no conclusion about its benefit can be drawn from this text.
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A program of counseling and support can substantially increase the time spouse-caregivers are able to care for AD patients at home, particularly during the early to middle stages of dementia when nursing home placement is generally least appropriate.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial of 206 spouse-caregivers at a New York City-area clinic, caregivers offered six individual and family counseling sessions, required support-group membership and on-call counselors kept their spouses with Alzheimer disease at home longer: the median time to nursing home placement was 329 days longer than in the control group. After adjustment, caregivers in the program were about two thirds as likely to place their spouse in a nursing home at any point in time (relative risk 0.65, 95% CI 0.45–0.94), with the largest effect when patients were mildly or moderately demented. The study measured when placement happened, not changes in the disease, and enrolled only referred volunteer spouses who had a relative living nearby.
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These findings extend the evidence base for multidomain lifestyle interventions to populations historically under-represented in dementia research, supporting their feasibility and scalability as strategies to reduce cognitive decline risk amid the rapidly growing burden of dementia in low-income and middle-income countries.
Why it matters
This trial in Latin America tested a multidomain lifestyle intervention in older adults at risk of cognitive decline and reported on how well the program was delivered and how many participants stayed in it. It supports the feasibility of such programs in populations historically under-represented in dementia research, but the text does not report whether the intervention reduced cognitive decline.
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Among 80 participants (mean [SD] age, lithium: 72.93 [8.77] years; placebo: 71.22 [6.47] years; 56% female), none of the 6 coprimary outcomes met the prespecified significance threshold.
Why it matters
In this 80-person pilot trial, low-dose lithium did not significantly affect any of the six main outcomes, and brain volumes declined in both groups. It provides no evidence that lithium treats or prevents cognitive impairment.
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72/100
We aimed to determine the effect of live attenuated herpes zoster vaccination on incident dementia diagnoses among people aged 70 years and older using a natural experiment in Ontario, Canada, and to triangulate these findings, using a second natural experiment in Ontario and a quasi-experimental approach that uses data from multiple Canadian provinces.
Why it matters
This Canadian study used natural experiments to test whether live attenuated herpes zoster vaccination affects new dementia diagnoses in people aged 70 and older. The text provided describes the methods but does not report the results, so no conclusion about the vaccine's effect can be drawn.
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Cognitive training involving speed of cognitive processing has the potential to delay the diagnosis of ADRD.
Why it matters
In this 20-year follow-up of the ACTIVE trial, participants in the speed-training arm who completed booster sessions had a lower risk of diagnosed Alzheimer's and related dementias, while memory and reasoning training showed no main effect. It suggests speed training may delay diagnosis but does not show it prevents or cures the disease.
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A total of 19 reviews containing 37 meta-analyses were included umbrella review.
Why it matters
This umbrella review found that several environmental exposures, including air pollutants, chronic noise, shift work, and extremely-low frequency magnetic fields, were associated with higher dementia risk, while neighbourhood greenness was associated with lower risk. It suggests that stronger air quality targets and changes to neighbourhood and occupational conditions could reduce dementia risk at the population level, but it does not test a treatment or cure.
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Age-related cognitive impairment and dementia pose a significant global health, social, and economic challenge.
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Between Feb 24, 2021, and March 5, 2023, 377 dyads were randomly assigned (1:1), 189 to usual treatment and 188 to intervention.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial, the DREAMS START intervention reduced sleep disturbance in people with dementia living at home compared with usual care at 8 months. This is a non-drug approach to managing a common symptom, not a treatment for the underlying disease.
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The study findings suggest delirium was a strong risk factor for death and incident dementia among older adult patients.
Why it matters
Among 55,211 matched pairs of older hospital patients (mean age 83) in New South Wales who had no recorded dementia, those who developed delirium were three times as likely to receive a new dementia diagnosis over about five years (subdistribution HR 3.00) and 39% more likely to die. Each extra episode of delirium was linked to a further 20% rise in dementia risk. The authors say this supports delirium as a 'potentially modifiable risk factor' for dementia, but the study was observational, relied on hospital diagnosis codes, and did not test whether preventing delirium lowers dementia risk.
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Of 586 included decedents, 415 (70.8%) were female, 171 (29.2%) were male, and the mean (SD) age at death was 90.9 (6.0) years.
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In this study, several factors, mostly modifiable, were associated with a higher risk of YOD.
Why it matters
This UK Biobank study identified 15 factors associated with higher risk of young-onset dementia, most of them modifiable, including lower education, social isolation, vitamin D deficiency, hearing impairment, stroke, diabetes, heart disease and depression. These are associations and do not prove that changing these factors prevents young-onset dementia.
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4024 articles were identified, and 74 were included in our narrative synthesis.
Why it matters
This review estimated how much of dementia in the population could be attributed to various modifiable risk factors, reporting figures for 61 factors and pooling data for 12 of them. Such estimates are used to guide risk reduction and prevention strategies, though they do not by themselves prove that changing a factor prevents dementia.
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High UPF consumption is associated with dementia.
Why it matters
This review of 10 observational studies found that high ultraprocessed food intake was linked to higher dementia risk, while moderate intake was not. It is observational, so it cannot prove that these foods cause dementia.
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Goals-of-care documentation during the intervention phase occurred among 3744 of 6023 patients (62.2%) compared with 2396 of 4779 patients (50.1%) in the usual care phase (P Conclusions and relevance In this stepped-wedge cluster randomized clinical trial of older adults, a GOC video intervention delivered by PCEs resulted in higher rates of GOC documentation compared with usual care, including among Black or African American individuals, Hispanic or Latino individuals, non-English speakers, and people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias.
Why it matters
A video intervention delivered by palliative care educators increased goals-of-care documentation in hospitalized older adults. This is about communication and care planning, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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The average life expectancy has increased substantially in the past few decades in most industrialized countries; however, not all of the increased life expectancy is being spent in optimal health, especially among individuals with low socioeconomic status.
Why it matters
This study quantified how levels of cardiovascular health relate to life expectancy free of major chronic disease, including dementia, in UK adults. It is observational, so it cannot show that improving cardiovascular health prevents dementia.
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A higher percentage of daily energy consumption of ultraprocessed foods was associated with cognitive decline among adults from an ethnically diverse sample.
Why it matters
This Brazilian cohort found that people with the highest ultraprocessed food consumption showed faster cognitive decline than those with the lowest. It is observational, so it cannot prove that these foods cause cognitive decline.
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Of 4267 participants with probable dementia in HRS, the mean (SD) age was 82.2 (7.6) years, 2930 (survey-weighted 69.4%) were female, and 785 (survey-weighted 12.1%) identified as Black.
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In this study, risk of dementia significantly increased after ischemic stroke, independent of vascular risk factors.
Why it matters
This study found that the risk of dementia was significantly higher after an ischemic stroke, and that this risk increased with both the severity of the stroke and the number of strokes. This suggests that preventing strokes and their recurrence may help reduce the risk of developing dementia.
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As with incidences, HRs were higher in patients who had more severe COVID-19 (eg, those admitted to ITU compared with those who were not: 1·58, 1·50-1·67, for any diagnosis; 2·87, 2·45-3·35, for any first diagnosis).
Why it matters
This retrospective cohort study of 236,379 COVID-19 survivors found that neurological and psychiatric outcomes were more common in patients who had more severe COVID-19, with higher hazard ratios in those admitted to intensive care. The authors state that complementary study designs, including prospective cohorts, are needed to corroborate and explain these findings, and the study does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Early specialist PC exposure reduced the risk of hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life for all chronic disease groups except dementia.
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Identified prognostic factors can help clinicians and policy makers in tailoring management strategies for patients with COVID-19 infectious disease while researchers can utilise our findings to develop multivariable prognostic models that could eventually facilitate decision-making and improve patient important outcomes.
Why it matters
This systematic review of 207 studies found that dementia is among the patient history factors providing prognostic information on mortality and severe disease in people with COVID-19. It concerns predicting COVID-19 outcomes, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Although preliminary, our findings have implications for clinical services, and prospective cohort studies are warranted.
Why it matters
This study examined whether COVID-19 was associated with later psychiatric diagnoses, dementia and insomnia, and whether psychiatric history raised COVID-19 risk. It is about COVID-19 and mental health, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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The number of years of formal education completed by individuals is positively correlated with their cognitive function throughout adulthood and predicts lower risk of dementia late in life.
Why it matters
This review found that more years of formal education are linked to better cognitive function throughout adulthood and to lower risk of dementia late in life. It describes an association and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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.
- Estimated Budget Impact of Increased Use of Mirabegron, A Novel Treatment for Overactive Bladder
- Defining Serious Illness Among Adult Surgical Patients
- Body, Brain, Life for Cognitive Decline (BBL-CD): protocol for a multidomain dementia risk reduction randomized controlled trial for subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment
- Geographic variation in shortfalls of dementia specialists in the United States
- Hippocampus and entorhinal cortex in mild cognitive impairment and early AD
- Clinical outcomes after antipsychotic discontinuation in nursing home residents with dementia: a nationwide cohort study
- Epigenetic Age and Resilience in the Framingham Heart Study
- Development of an activities of daily living scale to screen for dementia in an illiterate rural older population in India
- Causes of nursing home placement for older people with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Quality of end-of-life care for dementia patients during acute hospital admission: a retrospective study in Ireland