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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45/100
The sample consisted of 84 participants from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, including 53 females and 31 males [M age = 64.89 (SD = 9.73), M education = 12.58 (SD = 2.35)].
Why it matters
This small study found that a brief battery of neuropsychological tests given by video teleconference produced results similar to face-to-face testing in rural American Indians, including some with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. It supports the feasibility of remote testing and does not test a treatment, cure or prevention.
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Prediabetes is associated with increased risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer, and its prevalence is increasing worldwide.
Why it matters
This paper notes that prediabetes is associated with increased risks including dementia, and discusses whether phenotyping prediabetes could improve risk prediction and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. It reports no trial showing that treating prediabetes prevents or cures Alzheimer's disease.
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Preinjury physical frailty is the predominant predictor of postinjury functional status and mortality in geriatric trauma patients.
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Reducing cognitive decline in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) may slow their progression to develop dementia.
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We identified three distinct DP (characterised as 'High Red Meat', 'Low Meat', and 'High Butter') that varied with key sociodemographic, health and functioning measures. 'Low Meat' participants were more advantaged (i.e. higher education and occupational class, and lived in more affluent areas in owned homes), were least disabled, cognitively impaired, and depressed, and were more physically active than those in the other DP.
Why it matters
In people aged 85 and over, lower education was linked to dietary patterns characterized by high red meat and high butter, while a 'Low Meat' pattern was linked to better health and higher socioeconomic status. This is about diet and socioeconomic factors, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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A rising trend of admission spells was noted from January 2005 to March 2013 (daily average admissions for month rising from over 2000 to over 4000).
Why it matters
This study quantified frailty in English hospitals, finding that the overall prevalence of coded frailty increased from 64,559 spells in January 2005 to 150,085 spells by January 2013, with cognitive impairment and falls the most common frailty syndromes coded. The study is about measuring frailty and health service use, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is one of the most frequent maternally inherited mitochondrial disorders.
Why it matters
This review describes MELAS syndrome, a maternally inherited mitochondrial disorder whose manifestations include dementia, and explains how the m.3243A>G mutation impairs mitochondrial energy production. It states there is no specific consensus approach, and reports no treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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In models adjusting for individual demographic and health characteristics, Hispanic composition had a significant positive association with cognitive function (standardised β=0.136, p<0.05) and moderate evidence of an association with greater cognitive decline (standardised β=-0.014, p=0.09).
Why it matters
This study found that living in neighbourhoods with greater Hispanic composition or Hispanic-white segregation was linked to higher cognitive function at baseline but also to greater cognitive decline over time. It does not test a dementia treatment or prevention, so it cannot show how to cure or prevent dementia.
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The purpose of the present study was to investigate if cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of neurodegeneration are associated with cognition in bipolar disorder and healthy controls, respectively.
Why it matters
In 82 people with bipolar disorder and 71 healthy controls, spinal fluid biomarkers of neurodegeneration explained a significant portion of cognitive performance in the bipolar group, but the markers specific to Alzheimer-type changes, p-tau and amyloid beta 1-42, did not contribute significantly. In healthy controls, these biomarkers did not explain cognitive performance, so the findings do not support a role for Alzheimer-type markers in this context.
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People with intellectual disabilities are at a higher risk for experiencing behavioral, emotional, and psychiatric problems in comparison with the general population.
Why it matters
This questionnaire study described trajectories of behavior in young adults with Down syndrome over eight years, finding that behavior improved over time but depressive symptoms and social relating behavior followed different patterns. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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The growth in hospice care for nursing home residents was associated with less aggressive care near death but at an overall increase in Medicare expenditures.
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Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common condition in the elderly.
Why it matters
This review describes mild cognitive impairment as a condition that can progress to dementia at a rate of 10% to 15% per year, and states there is no exact cure for MCI or dementia. It lists potentially protective measures such as mental and physical exercise, avoiding toxins, and modifying risk factors, but does not establish that any of these prevent dementia.
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Encouragingly, aspects of secondary prevention were identified that may be protective in reducing the incidence of cognitive impairment post-stroke.
Why it matters
Six months after an ischaemic stroke, over half of 256 survivors (56.6%) had cognitive impairment on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Impairment was more likely in women and in people with a history of cerebrovascular disease, and less likely in those treated with blood-pressure medicines or prescribed anticoagulants. These are associations rather than proof of cause, but they flag secondary-prevention treatment as a factor worth studying in protecting thinking after stroke.
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We found that family satisfaction with care is related to a comfort care goal shortly after admission, but quality of dying did not.
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White matter abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are associated with dementia and include white matter hyperintensities (WMH; also termed leukoaraiosis) and visible perivascular spaces (PVS).
Why it matters
This review proposes that impaired drainage of interstitial fluid along perivascular lymphatic pathways may contribute to white matter changes seen in dementia, and that this drainage is impaired with age and in association with apolipoprotein E ε4. It suggests facilitating this drainage may help prevent cerebral amyloid angiopathy, white matter hyperintensities and Alzheimer's disease, but this is a hypothesis, not a demonstrated treatment.
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The odds of the occurrence and of a greater severity of dementia were higher in 2010/2011 than in 2004/2005.
Why it matters
This study found higher odds and greater severity of dementia in nursing home residents in 2010/2011 than in 2004/2005, possibly reflecting increased need for dementia beds. It describes prevalence and severity in nursing homes, not treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Bilingualism has been reported to delay the age of retrospective report of first symptom in dementia.
Why it matters
In this small group of 81 dementia cases, the age of dementia diagnosis did not differ significantly between bilingual and monolingual Hispanic Americans. The study found no significant effect of bilingualism on age of diagnosis.
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Closer adherence to the traditional MD is highly likely to protect against cognitive decline in this elderly Mediterranean population.
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Age-related alterations in brain structure and function have been challenging to link to cognition due to potential overlapping influences of multiple neurobiological cascades.
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Hypoglycaemia is a frequent adverse effect of treatment of diabetes mellitus with insulin and sulphonylureas.
Why it matters
This review discusses whether recurrent severe hypoglycemia in diabetes can cause permanent cognitive impairment or accelerate dementia, but does not establish that it does. It focuses on preventing hypoglycemia as part of diabetes management, not on treating or curing Alzheimer's disease.
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Nearly ¾ of the PD cohort reported falling after 8 years of follow-up.
Why it matters
In this 8-year study of Parkinson's disease patients, the prevalence of falls increased from 41% at baseline to 72% after 8 years. Predictive factors for falling at 4 years included freezing of gait, higher levodopa equivalent doses, and more severe speech and axial impairment, while higher baseline age was the only risk factor at 8 years.
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Teleneuropsychology is proving to be an excellent resource for clarifying cognitive and psychiatric diagnoses, and integrating individual strengths, weaknesses, and preferences into treatment and care plans used by other health care providers, patients, and caregivers.
Why it matters
In this small demonstration project with data from 31 patients, 87% of patients referred for neuropsychological assessment had an inaccurate neurocognitive diagnosis at referral, and unmet mental health treatment needs were identified in over 77%. This is about telemedicine for assessment and diagnosis, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Apraxia of speech, NVOA, and ideomotor apraxia are at least partially separable disorders.
Why it matters
Among 89 patients with degenerative speech or language disorders, nonverbal oral apraxia was very common in progressive apraxia of speech and also occurred in primary progressive aphasia, and bilateral atrophy of the prefrontal cortex anterior to the premotor and supplementary motor areas was associated with it. The study describes these conditions and their imaging findings only, with no treatment, cure or prevention.
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Assisted living residences have become prominent sites of long-term residential care for older adults with dementia.
Why it matters
This report estimates that about seven out of ten residents in assisted living have some form of cognitive impairment, and it recommends examining psychotropic medication use and improving staff training and nonpharmacological care. This is about care in assisted living settings, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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45/100
This risk prediction rule may help identify a group of individuals in the ED at high risk of developing delirium who should undergo screening, but it requires external validation.
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.
- Small vessel disease and general cognitive function in nondisabled elderly: the LADIS study
- Identification of the palliative phase in people with dementia: a variety of opinions between healthcare professionals
- Mild cognitive impairment can be distinguished from Alzheimer disease and normal aging for clinical trials
- Prevalence and Determinants of Poor Food Intake of Residents Living in Long-Term Care
- Body mass index in midlife and late-life as a risk factor for dementia: a meta-analysis of prospective studies
- Screening for Mild Cognitive Impairment: Comparison of "MCI Specific" Screening Instruments
- Burden of Cause-Specific Mortality Associated With PM2.5 Air Pollution in the United States
- Risk of dementia in stroke-free patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation: data from a population-based cohort
- Cognitive training for people with mild to moderate dementia
- The Provision of Social Support in an Online Support Forum for Caregivers of People With Comorbid Dementia and Cancer: Content Analysis Study