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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On Census Day, 1.4% of the study sample were living in a nursing home, 1.2% in a seniors' residence, 7.1% in a private dwelling with additional family, and 90.3% in a private dwelling.
Why it matters
This study of older Canadians found that, besides age, factors such as losing a spouse, not owning one's dwelling, poor self-rated health, and a dementia diagnosis were linked to higher odds of living in a nursing home or seniors' residence. These factors could inform planning for future housing and care needs.
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Quality of life is dramatically affected in advanced PD patients.
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Advances in neuroimaging have enabled greater understanding of the progression of cerebral degenerative processes associated with ageing-related dementias.
Why it matters
This review explains what the bright white-matter spots seen on brain scans of older adults (white matter hyperintensities) may stand for. It lists the tissue changes behind them, "myelin loss, axonal abnormalities, arteriolosclerosis" and damage from small infarcts, microbleeds and widened perivascular spaces. It also names the cells involved (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, pericytes and microglia). It links these changes to cognitive problems, stroke, small vessel disease and Alzheimer's disease as associations only, and it reports no treatment or prevention findings.
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This article primarily describes the design of a monocentre, randomized, doubleblind trial to be conducted in France to evaluate the effect of the combination of tDCS and cognitive training on apathy compared to a group treated exclusively by cognitive training (sham tDCS).
Why it matters
This is a protocol for a 24-patient trial testing whether transcranial direct current stimulation combined with cognitive training reduces apathy in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. No results are reported; the paper only describes the planned design and endpoints.
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Our results indicate the potential value of vocal analytics and the use of a mobile application for accurate automatic differentiation between SCI, MCI and AD.
Why it matters
In 165 participants with subjective cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, or mixed dementia, a mobile application using speech tasks and machine learning classified diagnostic groups with accuracy up to 92% for some comparisons. The study concerns assessment and detection, not treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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A total of 2,098 MAPD patients meeting study inclusion/exclusion criteria and with a PA for alirocumab were identified between March 1, 2016 and February 28, 2017.
Why it matters
This study of Medicare Advantage patients found that although approval rates for alirocumab prior authorization were similar between groups, far more patients with low-income subsidy or dual-eligible status had a paid claim for the drug than those without. It contains no research findings on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Vascular dementia (VaD) is widely recognised as the second most common type of dementia.
Why it matters
Vascular dementia is described here as the second most common type of dementia. The paper says a confident diagnosis in life draws on clinical, memory-and-thinking and brain-scan measures, but "more importantly pathological confirmation" — examining the brain itself. It reports that atherosclerotic and cardioembolic disease together "appear the most common subtypes" of vascular brain injury, and that cerebral small vessel disease has gained prominence as "an important substrate of cognitive impairment"; it reports no treatment, cure or prevention.
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48/100
Intravitam PET and post-mortem studies revealed more pronounced cortical atrophy, elevated cortical and limbic Lewy pathologies (with APOE ε4), apart from higher prevalence of Alzheimer pathology in DLB than PDD.
Why it matters
This review reports that, in brain-imaging (PET) and post-mortem studies, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) showed more cortical shrinkage, more Lewy pathology (noted alongside the APOE ε4 gene variant) and more Alzheimer-type pathology than Parkinson's disease-dementia. The author suggests that both conditions share disease mechanisms with Alzheimer's and other protein-misfolding diseases. It is a narrative review with no new data, numbers or treatment findings.
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This paper proposes a new approach to automatically detect dementia.
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PTSD in youth is common and debilitating.
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The significant challenges of providing good end of life care for people with dementia requires that different forms of expertise should be recognised and used; including the skills and knowledge of care assistants.
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Ageing societies and a rising prevalence of dementia are associated with increasing demand for care home places.
Why it matters
This qualitative study explored implementing monitoring technologies in care homes for people with dementia using Normalization Process Theory. It concerns care practices, not treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Overall, enjoyment and acceptance of casual game characteristics was high and significantly above the midpoint of the rating scale for all CVG genres.
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This study investigated whether patients with mild to moderately severe dementia or possible Alzheimer's disease (AD) with Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) Baseline scores of 10-24 would improve when treated with near-infrared photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy.
Why it matters
This case series reported cognitive improvement in five patients with mild to moderately severe dementia treated with transcranial plus intranasal photobiomodulation. It is a very small, preliminary case series, so the findings cannot establish that this therapy treats or prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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When compared to edentulous elderly patients, patients with remaining teeth were younger at admittance, were more often non-cooperative, and had a poorer oral health and higher need for dental care.
Why it matters
This study described oral health problems such as poor oral hygiene, caries and broken teeth in nursing home residents, and found edentulous patients were more cooperative with dental treatment. It does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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This study suggests that violence is a significant phenomenon and that all health workers, especially nurses, are at risk of suffering aggressive assaults.
Why it matters
This study is about workplace violence against hospital staff and has no relevance to treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease. It reports no Alzheimer's disease outcome.
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Moderately elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is a strong modifiable risk factor for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
This review reports that elevated homocysteine is linked to cognitive decline and dementia, and that some B vitamin trials in high-risk people showed slower decline and less brain shrinkage. It calls for more trials to see whether nutrient treatment can prevent progression to dementia.
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Cognitive decline after surgery is biphasic and accelerated among persons with delirium.
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The World Health Organization reports that 47.5 million people are affected by dementia worldwide.
Why it matters
This framework paper notes that the actual causes of dementia in affected individuals are unknown except for rare fully penetrant genetic forms, and that evidence indicates damage to the vascular system is associated with increased risk of many types of dementia. It proposes that understanding and targeting the biology of vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia could have a positive public health impact.
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Shifting policies towards legalisation of cannabis for therapeutic and recreational use raise significant ethical issues for health-care providers seeking evidence-based recommendations.
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MCI and dementia were common among survivors from the original ARIC cohort.
Why it matters
Among 10713 surviving ARIC participants aged 69 to 88, dementia prevalence was 9.0% and mild cognitive impairment 21%. Alzheimer's disease was a primary or secondary cause in 76% of dementia and 75% of mild cognitive impairment, and cerebrovascular disease in 46% and 32%.
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Nutritional care and support should be an integral part of dementia management.
Why it matters
These guidelines recommend screening every person with dementia for malnutrition and monitoring body weight, and supporting oral nutrition with adequate food, a pleasant environment and good nursing care. They do not recommend supplementing single nutrients, and the guidelines do not claim that nutrition can prevent or cure dementia.
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Physical as well as cognitive training interventions improve specific cognitive functions but effects barely generalize on global cognition.
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The QDRS provides a rapid method to determine study eligibility; stage patients in clinical practice; and improve case ascertainment in population studies.
Why it matters
The Quick Dementia Rating System was tested in 267 patient-caregiver dyads and differentiated people with and without dementia and staged dementia accurately without extensive training or clinician input. This is a staging and case-ascertainment tool, not a treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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The benefits of exercise are irrefutable.
Why it matters
This review states that exercise retards the onset of dementia among its many benefits, but it also reports emerging data that long-standing vigorous exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodeling in otherwise normal hearts. It does not test exercise as a dementia treatment or prevention in a trial.
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.
- Genetic correlates of brain aging on MRI and cognitive test measures: a genome-wide association and linkage analysis in the Framingham Study
- Temporal lobe regions engaged during normal speech comprehension
- Prevalence of cerebral white matter lesions in elderly people: a population based magnetic resonance imaging study. The Rotterdam Scan Study
- Twenty-seven-year time trends in dementia incidence in Europe and the United States: The Alzheimer Cohorts Consortium
- Trends in predominant causes of death in individuals with and without diabetes in England from 2001 to 2018: an epidemiological analysis of linked primary care records
- Treatment of cardiovascular risk factors to prevent cognitive decline and dementia: a systematic review
- A Focused Update to the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Pain, Anxiety, Agitation/Sedation, Delirium, Immobility, and Sleep Disruption in Adult Patients in the ICU
- Cognitive training for persons with mild cognitive impairment
- Association Between Chewing Capacity and Mortality Risk: The Role of Diet and Ageing
- Longitudinal EEG changes correlate with cognitive measure deterioration in Parkinson's disease