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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Physical activity improves overall health and reduces the risk of many negative health outcomes and may be effective in improving cognition, independent functioning, and psychological health in older adults.
Why it matters
This review concludes that physical activity can improve cognition, especially executive functioning and memory, in people with mild cognitive impairment, and can improve independent functioning and psychological health in people with dementia. It does not show that physical activity cures or prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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MCI patients have a high prevalence of depression/anxiety/apathy; furthermore, patients with MCI and concomitant depression/anxiety/apathy have more pronounced cognitive deficits and progress more often to dementia than MCI patients without depression/anxiety/apathy.
Why it matters
This review notes that depression, anxiety, and apathy are common in mild cognitive impairment and are associated with more cognitive deficits and a higher chance of progressing to dementia. These symptoms may be risk factors, but the review does not show that treating them prevents progression.
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Hearing loss is a modifiable risk factor for dementia in older adults.
Why it matters
In this small group of older adults, cognition did not decline and executive function improved 18 months after hearing aids were fitted. The authors say this suggests treating hearing loss may delay cognitive decline, but the small sample means this is not yet proof.
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Greater lifetime stress predicted poorer later-life cognition, and, in a small sample of African Americans, faster declines in a key domain of episodic memory.
Why it matters
In this preliminary study, African American participants reported more stressful life events than white participants, and higher stress scores were linked to poorer performance on one cognitive domain in both groups. The authors say future work in larger minority aging cohorts is needed, and the study does not test a treatment or cure.
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Higher-order factors (e.g., emotional distress, subjective health), which reflect complex interactions between various aspects of an individual, were more important than narrowly defined factors (e.g., clinical and behavioral indicators) when evaluated concurrently to predict cognitive impairment and dementia.
Why it matters
This study used machine learning and survival analysis on 52 predictors in a large population sample to estimate risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. It identified African Americans and those with high emotional distress as at relatively highest risk, but this is about risk prediction, not treatment or cure.
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Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) refers to a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders with different pathological signatures, genetic variability and complex disease mechanisms, for which no effective treatments exist.
Why it matters
This review states that neuroinflammation appears involved in the progression of frontotemporal dementia and that sensitive, specific fluid biomarkers for the disease are lacking. It concerns frontotemporal dementia and reports no treatment or cure.
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BrainCheck Memory assessments were significantly correlated to the SLUMS exam, with coefficients ranging from .5 to .7.
Why it matters
This cohort study found that a mobile cognitive screening test called BrainCheck correlated significantly with standard assessments like the SLUMS, MMSE, and MoCA. It evaluates a tool for identifying cognitive impairment and does not offer any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Our novel neuropsychological approach improved the staging of MCI by (1) capturing individuals at an early symptomatic stage, (2) minimizing false-positive cases, and (3) identifying a late MCI group further along the disease trajectory.
Why it matters
This study found little correspondence between the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative's single-memory-test staging of early and late mild cognitive impairment and a broader neuropsychological approach, which showed steeper progression and more abnormal biomarkers. It is about improving how mild cognitive impairment is staged and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention.
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In the general population, we investigated the association of a recently developed cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) sum score with stroke, dementia, and mortality.
Why it matters
This study found that a cerebral small vessel disease score based on brain MRI markers was related to stroke, dementia, and death in a population-based cohort. It does not show that treating small vessel disease prevents dementia, and the findings are observational.
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49/100
Among 104 537 individuals, the absolute 10-year risk of Alzheimer disease in 3017 women and men who were carriers of the APOE ɛ44 genotype was, respectively, 7% and 6% at age 60-69 years, 16% and 12% at age 70-79 years, and 24% and 19% at age 80 years and older.
Why it matters
This population study calculated the 10-year risk of Alzheimer disease and other dementias by age, sex and APOE genotype, finding the highest risks in APOE ɛ44 carriers. The authors suggest these high-risk groups could be targeted for preventive interventions, but the study itself tested no prevention.
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Older people with cognitive impairment have a higher risk of a variety of negative outcomes in hospital.
Why it matters
This review of 104 articles found that older hospital patients with a dementia diagnosis were at higher risk of death in hospital, nursing home admission, long lengths of stay, delirium, falls, dehydration, reduced nutritional status, decline in physical and cognitive function, and new infections. Patient and carer experiences of hospital admission were often poor.
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We found that a larger share of Hispanic Medicare residents that are admitted to nursing homes have ADRD compared with African American and White beneficiaries.
Why it matters
This study found that Hispanic and African American Medicare residents with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias received care in segregated nursing homes with fewer resources and lower quality of care than White residents. It suggests that improving equity and quality in nursing homes serving minority patients could help address these disparities.
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We believe this to be the first demonstration of myelin loss in MCI, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia using a method that provides a quantitative magnetic resonance imaging-based measure of myelin.
Why it matters
Using a magnetic resonance imaging measure of myelin, people with mild cognitive impairment showed decreased myelin water fraction compared with older controls, and demyelination was greater in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The authors say myelination may be an important biomarker, but this is about measuring brain changes, not treating or preventing the disease.
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Falls remain common in older people, with higher prevalence and morbidity in those who are cognitively impaired.
Why it matters
This review reports that low performance in attention and executive function is linked to gait problems and future falls, and that cognitive therapies may help reduce falls. It does not report any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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49/100
We report the clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathologic characteristics of 2 patients who developed early onset dementia after a moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Why it matters
Two patients who developed early onset dementia after moderate-severe traumatic brain injury were found at autopsy to have multiple misfolded proteins, including amyloid and tau. This supports an association between traumatic brain injury and dementia but is based on only two cases and does not test treatment.
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From 348 patients, 126 evolved to dementia (36.2%).
Why it matters
This study followed patients with mild behavioral impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and psychiatric disorders for five years to compare conversion to dementia. Conversion was significantly higher in the mild behavioral impairment group, suggesting that earlier identification of neuropsychiatric symptoms could allow new possibilities for therapeutic intervention.
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Despite the success of large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on complex traits, our understanding of their genetic architecture is far from complete.
Why it matters
This statistical method found shared genetic covariance between late-onset Alzheimer disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, along with links between Alzheimer's and cognitive traits. It is a genetic analysis and does not provide a treatment, cure or prevention.
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Advances in our understanding of the role of cardiovascular risks have shown them to be closely associated with cognitive impairment and dementia.
Why it matters
This is a Presidential Advisory from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, not a new study. It says cardiovascular risks have been shown to be "closely associated with cognitive impairment and dementia" and sets out a definition of optimal brain health. It also notes that the ideal "may be uncommon" because brain health is a continuum, "as demonstrated by AHA's Life's Simple 7". It shows association, not cause, and it does not test any treatment or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Implementation was feasible to differing degrees across sites, dependent on context.
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Late-life depression (LLD) is associated with development of different types of dementia.
Why it matters
This study assessed whether structural brain MRI in patients with late-life depression can predict mild cognitive impairment or dementia 1 year before diagnosis. It is a small prediction study, so it cannot show that any treatment or intervention would prevent cognitive decline.
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Because individuals develop dementia as a manifestation of neurodegenerative or neurovascular disorder, there is a need to develop reliable approaches to their identification.
Why it matters
This observational study describes a research initiative collecting genomic, imaging, and cognitive data across several neurodegenerative disorders to improve their identification. It is a study design and resource description and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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This diagnosis, based on clinical and MRI findings, suggests that vascular lesions lead to depression by disruption of frontal-subcortical-limbic networks involved in mood regulation.
Why it matters
This consensus report discusses the disputed idea that vascular brain lesions cause late-life depression and notes that the causal relationship remains controversial. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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49/100
Given that aging is associated with higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, improving early detection of cognitive impairment has become a research and clinical priority.
Why it matters
This study established normative data for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in middle-aged and elderly Quebec-French people. It is about interpreting a cognitive screening test correctly, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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A diagnosis of dementia confers an increased risk of either death or further admission within the following 12 months, highlighting the need for better cognitive screening in the acute setting, as well as targeted intervention such as comprehensive geriatric assessment.
Why it matters
This study found that dementia was present in over one-third of acutely unwell older hospital patients, and most of those cases had not been diagnosed before presentation. Patients with dementia were more likely to die or be readmitted within 12 months.
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Purpose of the study There is a global imperative to increase awareness of the emerging evidence on physical activity (PA) among older adults.
Why it matters
This review reports emerging evidence that physical activity is linked to improved cognitive function and reduced risk of dementia in older adults, alongside other benefits. It is a summary of existing evidence and does not present new trial results.
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.
- Rural-Urban Differences in Social Isolation and Dementia Risk Among Older Adults in India
- Cognitive Aging and the Hippocampus in Older Adults
- Early DAT is distinguished from aging by high-dimensional mapping of the hippocampus. Dementia of the Alzheimer type
- Long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality in a Danish nationwide administrative cohort study: Beyond mortality from cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer
- Sparse learning and stability selection for predicting MCI to AD conversion using baseline ADNI data
- Investigating neuropathological correlates of hyperactive and psychotic symptoms in dementia: a systematic review
- Disparities in neighborhood food environment and cognitive decline among US older adults: a cohort study
- Relation of left ventricular ejection fraction to cognitive aging (from the Framingham Heart Study)
- Seasonal and daily variation in indoor light and temperature are associated with sleep disturbance in dementia
- Comparing post-acute rehabilitation use, length of stay, and outcomes experienced by Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with hip fracture in the United States: A secondary analysis of administrative data