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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These data indicate the high symptom burden of persons with dementia in Germany at the end of their lives.
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Evidence suggests that AF is associated with a higher risk for cognitive impairment and dementia, with or without a history of clinical stroke.
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These results suggest that persons with MCI can improve their performance on cognitive and functional measures when provided with early cognitive training and it could persist in a long-term follow-up.
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There is an extensive body of qualitative literature on the experiences of community-dwelling individuals with dementia on receiving and adapting to a diagnosis of dementia.
Why it matters
This review of qualitative studies described how people with dementia and their carers experience diagnosis and adjust to it. It suggests research should focus on developing and evaluating support interventions after diagnosis, but it does not test any treatment or cure.
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Four hundred ninety-four individuals eventually developed dementia and 427 (86%) of these persons were admitted at least once; 2525 remained free of dementia and 1478 (59%) of those were admitted at least once.
Why it matters
This study examined whether people with dementia are hospitalized more often or for different reasons than people without dementia. It concerns hospital care patterns and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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As none of the studies exceeded a duration of 6 months, the recommendations given are for the short-term management of the different non-motor symptoms.
Why it matters
This review of treatments for non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease found insufficient evidence for several indications and that no included studies lasted longer than 6 months. It concerns Parkinson's disease symptom management, not Alzheimer's disease treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Among older women, those with sleep-disordered breathing compared with those without sleep-disordered breathing had an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
In a group of 298 older women, the 105 with sleep-disordered breathing went on to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia more often than the 193 without it (44.8% vs 31.1%; adjusted odds ratio 1.85). Frequent drops in blood oxygen during sleep and more sleep time spent in apnea or hypopnea were also linked to higher risk, but broken sleep and total sleep time were not. This is an association in women only; the study did not test whether treating sleep-disordered breathing lowers that risk.
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Variation in service use among sites was most plausibly accounted for by stark differences in the extent of out-of-pocket expenses, and the ability of older people and their families to afford them.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional survey study in low- and middle-income countries found that dementia was inversely associated with use of community healthcare services, meaning people with dementia used services less. It describes healthcare access patterns and does not test any treatment or prevention for dementia.
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71/100
Both overweight and obesity at midlife independently increase the risk of dementia, AD, and VaD.
Why it matters
Among 8,534 Swedish twins, people who were overweight or obese around age 43 had higher odds of dementia after 65 (odds ratios 1.71 and 3.88 versus BMI 20–25). When twins were compared with their own co-twin in 137 pairs, the link was weaker, which the authors say suggests genes and early-life environment explain part of it. This is an association from observational data; the study did not test whether changing weight changes dementia risk.
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Thirteen significant risk factors were identified: age, male gender, lung diseases, dysphagia, diabetes mellitus, severe dementia, angiotensin I-converting enzyme deletion/deletion genotype, bad oral health, malnutrition, Parkinson's disease, and the use of antipsychotic drugs, proton pump inhibitors, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.
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Hearing loss is independently associated with incident all-cause dementia.
Why it matters
In 639 adults from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging whose hearing was measured by audiometry, dementia risk rose with worse hearing over a median 11.9 years: 1.27 times per 10-dB loss (95% CI 1.06–1.50), across 58 dementia cases. For Alzheimer disease alone (37 cases) the trend was similar but not conclusive (1.20 per 10 dB; 95% CI 0.94–1.53). This is an association. The authors say it is still open whether hearing loss is an early marker of dementia or a risk factor that could be modified.
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Patients with advanced dementia often receive poor end-of-life care.
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During a mean (SD) follow-up of 6.1 (3.2) years, 1601 participants had no hospitalization, 1287 had 1 or more noncritical illness hospitalizations, and 41 had 1 or more critical illness hospitalizations.
Why it matters
This study examined whether older adults hospitalized for acute or critical illness had greater cognitive decline or higher dementia risk. It concerns the cognitive effects of hospitalization and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Main results Outcome data were available in 202 out of 234 included trials, investigating 60 clinical conditions.
Why it matters
This review of placebo interventions reported outcome data from 202 of 234 included trials across 60 clinical conditions. It does not report any finding about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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71/100
Statin users were less likely to have incident dementia/cognitive impairment without dementia during a 5-year follow-up.
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Home based support for caregivers of persons with dementia, which emphasizes the use of locally available, low-cost human resources, is feasible, acceptable and leads to significant improvements in caregiver mental health and burden of caring.
Why it matters
In a randomised trial of 81 families in Goa, India, home visits by locally recruited Home Care Advisors (supervised by a counselor and a psychiatrist) gave caregivers information on dementia, guidance on managing behaviour and, if needed, a psychiatric assessment and medication. Compared with families on a 6-month waiting list, caregivers had significantly better scores on a mental-health questionnaire (GHQ, −1.12) and less distress from behaviour problems (NPI-D, −1.96). Changes in caregiver burden, the person's behaviour and daily functioning, and deaths were not statistically significant, so the evidence supports caregiver well-being rather than outcomes for the person with dementia.
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Circadian rhythm disturbances have been associated with these symptoms.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial in group care facilities, bright light slightly slowed cognitive decline on a test score, a relative difference of about 5%. This is a small effect on symptoms in a specific setting and does not show that light treats, cures or prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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Cholinergic deficits might contribute to vascular cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
This trial tested donepezil in patients with a genetic form of subcortical vascular dementia called CADASIL, a group chosen because they have a single, uniform disease process. The study text does not report whether donepezil improved cognition, so no conclusion about treating this dementia can be drawn from it.
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The ACR is approximately 5-10% and most people with MCI will not progress to dementia even after 10 years of follow-up.
Why it matters
Pooling 41 cohort studies, this meta-analysis found that about 5–10% of people with mild cognitive impairment developed dementia each year: 9.6% a year in specialist clinics versus 4.9% in community studies (using Mayo-defined MCI). The authors conclude that most people with MCI will not progress to dementia even after 10 years. It describes how often MCI progresses, not why, and does not test any treatment or prevention.
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Dementia is a highly invalidating condition and, given the progressive aging of the population, one of the major issues that health systems will have to face in future years.
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These results do not support the hypothesis that celecoxib or naproxen prevent Alzheimer dementia, at least within the early years after initiation of treatment.
Why it matters
These results do not support the hypothesis that celecoxib or naproxen prevent Alzheimer dementia, at least within the early years after starting treatment. During the treatment period, both treatments were associated with increased hazard ratios for Alzheimer disease compared with placebo.
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This landmark NIH-funded trial (REACH II) tested a structured, multi-part support program for 642 Hispanic, White, and Black family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's or related dementias across 5 U.S. cities.
Why it matters
Family caregivers who received a structured multi-part support program had significantly better quality of life and less clinical depression than those who only got check-in calls. The program did not significantly change nursing-home placement rates at 6 months.
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A risk score based on 12 variables from the MDS estimates 6-month mortality for nursing home residents with advanced dementia with greater accuracy than existing prognostic guidelines.
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Participation in leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, even after adjustment for base-line cognitive status and after the exclusion of subjects with possible preclinical dementia.
Why it matters
In 469 community-dwelling adults over 75 followed for a median of 5.1 years, each extra day per week of cognitive leisure activity, such as reading, board games or playing music, was linked to a lower risk of dementia (hazard ratio 0.93), while the physical-activity score showed no association. The link held after excluding people who may already have had early, undiagnosed dementia, but this is an observational study and the authors say controlled trials are needed to test whether these activities protect against dementia.
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Compared with abstention, consumption of 1 to 6 drinks weekly is associated with a lower risk of incident dementia among older adults.
Why it matters
Compared with abstaining from alcohol, consuming 1 to 6 drinks per week was associated with lower odds of dementia, while heavier consumption showed a trend toward greater odds. This is an observational association and does not show that drinking alcohol prevents dementia.
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.
- Systematic review: factors associated with risk for and possible prevention of cognitive decline in later life
- Epidemiology of dementia in Nigeria: results from the Indianapolis-Ibadan study
- Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test
- Education and dementia in the context of the cognitive reserve hypothesis: a systematic review with meta-analyses and qualitative analyses
- Combining modifiable risk factors and risk of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Tailored and Adaptive Computerized Cognitive Training in Older Adults at Risk for Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Inflammation and Cognition: The Moderating Role of Neighborhood Disadvantage
- Correlation of longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers with cognitive decline in healthy older adults
- Anxiety is not associated with the risk of dementia or cognitive decline: the Rotterdam Study
- THE QUICK DEMENTIA RATING SYSTEM (QDRS): A RAPID DEMENTIA STAGING TOOL