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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Patients trained with CoRe showed a better evolution of cognitive decline, while untreated patients tended to get worse over time.
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Our study provides evidence that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with dairy foods may benefit cognitive function and psychological well-being in an ageing population at risk of dementia.
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Surgical repair of a hip fracture was associated with lower mortality among NH residents with advanced dementia and should be considered together with the residents' goals of care in management decisions.
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Current policy emphasises the importance of 'living well' with dementia, but there has been no comprehensive synthesis of the factors related to quality of life (QoL), subjective well-being or life satisfaction in people with dementia.
Why it matters
This review of many studies found that factors such as relationships, social engagement, and functional ability were linked to better quality of life, while poorer physical and mental health and poorer carer well-being were linked to worse quality of life. Most of these links were small, and the authors note that longitudinal evidence about what predicts quality of life was limited.
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A robust association between some classes of anticholinergic drugs and future dementia incidence was observed.
Why it matters
Longer and heavier use of certain anticholinergic drugs, especially antidepressants, urological, and antiparkinson drugs, was linked to a modestly higher risk of developing dementia. This was an observational case-control study, so it cannot prove that these drugs cause dementia.
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Forty studies from 12 countries met our inclusion criteria.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis found that age-related hearing loss was associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, but not with Alzheimer disease specifically. It suggests hearing loss may be a marker or risk factor for dementia, but does not show that treating hearing loss prevents dementia.
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71/100
The Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention is a longitudinal observational cohort study enriched with persons with a parental history (PH) of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia.
Why it matters
This review summarises a Wisconsin study that has followed 1,561 adults, enrolled at an average age of 54 and many with a parent who had Alzheimer's, for about 9 years. People with a parental history were more than twice as likely to carry the APOE ε4 gene variant (46% vs 22%), but in this group it was raised amyloid or tau levels, not family history or APOE, that went along with cognitive decline. Healthier lifestyle factors were linked to better thinking and less Alzheimer's-related brain change, but as an observational study it cannot show that those habits cause the difference.
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Being married is associated with reduced risk of dementia than widowed and lifelong single people, who are also underdiagnosed in routine clinical practice.
Why it matters
Pooling 15 observational studies with 812,047 people, this review found that lifelong single people (relative risk 1.42) and widowed people (1.20) had a higher dementia risk than married people; divorced people showed no difference. Lower education partly explained the widowhood link and poorer physical health the single-person link, and unmarried people also appeared to be underdiagnosed in routine care. The authors suggest prevention for unmarried people focus on education and physical health — an association, not proof that marriage itself protects.
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Recruitment ended in December 2014 with 16,703 Australian and 2,411 U.S. participants, a median age of 74 (range 65-98) years and 56% women.
Why it matters
This paper reports the baseline characteristics of people enrolled in a trial testing whether daily low-dose aspirin extends disability-free and dementia-free life in healthy older adults. It does not yet show whether aspirin prevents dementia; that will only be known once the trial's results are reported.
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ED attendance in the last year of life for people with dementia is common and is increasing.
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Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) is a well-established group psychosocial intervention for people with dementia.
Why it matters
This trial tested a home-based cognitive stimulation programme delivered by family caregivers to people with dementia, measuring cognition, quality of life and caregiver health. It is a psychosocial intervention study, and the text does not report whether it slowed, stopped or prevented Alzheimer's disease.
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In a study of 2.2 million adults in Ontario, Canada, people who lived very close to a major road (within 50 meters) had a small but statistically significant higher risk of developing dementia than those living farther away (over 300 meters), even after accounting for other health and demographic factors.
Why it matters
This population-based cohort study found that living closer to major roads was associated with a slightly higher incidence of dementia, with the risk decreasing as distance from the road increased. It shows an association and does not prove that traffic exposure causes dementia or that moving away would prevent it.
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We included 22 studies involving 43,637 women.
Why it matters
This review of hormone therapy in postmenopausal women focused on risks such as coronary events, blood clots, stroke, breast cancer, and gallbladder disease. It does not report effects on Alzheimer's disease treatment, cure, or prevention.
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The study cohorts had an average age of 75.0 years (95% CI, 74.8-75.2 years) in 2000 and 74.8 years (95% CI, 74.5-75.1 years) in 2012 (P = .24); 58.4% (95% CI, 57.3%-59.4%) of the 2000 cohort was female compared with 56.3% (95% CI, 55.5%-57.0%) of the 2012 cohort (P Conclusions and relevance The prevalence of dementia in the United States declined significantly between 2000 and 2012.
Why it matters
This study compared dementia prevalence in the United States in 2000 and 2012 using nationally representative survey data. It examines population trends in dementia prevalence and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Dementia is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease, whose etiology results from a complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors.
Why it matters
This umbrella review of meta-analyses examined associations between nongenetic environmental factors and dementia, assessing 76 unique associations. It looks at possible risk factors and provides no treatment, cure or prevention.
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Dementia is a progressive syndrome of global cognitive impairment with significant health and social care costs.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis examined how accurately the Montreal Cognitive Assessment detects Alzheimer's disease and other dementias at various thresholds. It is about diagnosis, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Health care expenditures among persons with dementia were substantially larger than those for other diseases, and many of the expenses were uncovered (uninsured).
Why it matters
In 1,702 US Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 70 or older who died in 2005–2010, average total costs over the last five years of life were $287,038 for people likely to have dementia, compared with $175,136 for heart disease, $173,383 for cancer and $197,286 for other causes. That total includes Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, out-of-pocket spending and unpaid family care, and the authors say "many of the expenses were uncovered (uninsured)", which places a large burden on families. This is an observational comparison, and Medicaid, private insurance and informal care costs were estimated (imputed), not directly measured.
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In this study, quantitative results were inconclusive owing to small sample size.
Why it matters
This pilot randomized controlled trial found no significant difference in self-perceived stress between the web-based program and control groups, though the experimental group improved their knowledge of the illness. The authors state the quantitative results were inconclusive because of the small sample size.
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Compared with respective matched nonusers, individuals receiving haloperidol had an increased mortality risk of 3.8% (95% CI, 1.0%-6.6%; P Conclusions and relevance The absolute effect of antipsychotics on mortality in elderly patients with dementia may be higher than previously reported and increases with dose.
Why it matters
In 90,786 veterans aged 65 or older with dementia, this study set out to measure how much a new prescription for an antipsychotic changes the absolute risk of death over 180 days. For haloperidol, death risk was 3.8 percentage points higher than in matched people not taking the drug (95% CI 1.0–6.6), and the authors conclude the absolute effect of antipsychotics "may be higher than previously reported and increases with dose." This is an observational association, not proof of cause, and it is a reason to discuss risks and alternatives with the prescriber, not to stop a medication without advice.
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They provide initial evidence that cognitive training may be an efficacious approach toward improving balance and gait in older adults known to have a history of falls.
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Peripheral inflammatory markers are elevated in patients with dementia.
Why it matters
This cohort study examined whether midlife interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein predict cognitive decline. It investigates possible etiologic markers and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of cognitive training, specifically computerized cognitive training (CCT) and virtual reality cognitive training (VRCT), programs for individuals living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia and therefore at high risk of cognitive decline.
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Those with high baseline stress levels are more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
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This review revealed a paucity of long-term studies on the relationship between physical activity and the incidence of NCD.
Why it matters
This review of longitudinal studies found that physical activity appears to have a positive long-term influence on all the diseases examined, including Alzheimer's disease and dementia. It also notes a shortage of long-term studies on physical activity and these diseases.
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Sensitivity analyses suggest that these estimates are robust to the change in response.
Why it matters
Comparing two decades of data from three areas of England, this study found that people born later had a lower risk of prevalent dementia than those born earlier in the past century. It reports no treatment, cure, or prevention.
From across this topic
9 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 9. The same 9 appear here every time.
- Improving quality of life for institutionalized individuals with advanced dementia: A pilot study on efficacy of a semi-immersive virtual reality driving simulator for individuals with advanced dementia
- Dementia medications and risk of falls, syncope, and related adverse events: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
- Functional implications of hippocampal volume and diffusivity in mild cognitive impairment
- Mild cognitive impairment and 10-year trajectories of disability in the Iowa Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly cohort
- Saccade Tasks: A Noninvasive Approach for Predicting Postoperative Delirium in Elderly Arthroplasty Patients
- Predictors of institutionalization for people with dementia living at home with a carer
- Air pollution, lifestyle, and cardiovascular disease risk in northwestern China: A cohort study of over 5.8 million participants
- Donepezil delays progression to AD in MCI subjects with depressive symptoms
- Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistently Positive Effects of Dementia Caregiver Interventions on Psychological Distress