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.
-
Previous research on effects of alcohol on health indices have suggested a J-shaped relationship between amounts of alcohol consumption and measurements of heart disease, stroke, and mortality rates.
Why it matters
This study examined the relationship between alcohol consumption, cognitive performance and daily functioning in older black Americans. It found that heavier drinking was associated with poorer cognitive scores, but it does not test a treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
-
Fronto-temporal dementia is the commonest clinical manifestation of fronto-temporal lobar atrophy.
Why it matters
This review describes the clinical, neuropsychological, and neuropathological features of fronto-temporal dementia and its three underlying histology types. It is a descriptive overview and reports no treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
-
Hippocampal volumes of subjects with a history of major depressive episodes but currently in remission and with no known medical comorbidity were compared to matched normal controls by using volumetric magnetic resonance images.
-
A new assessment of Activities of Daily Living has been developed specifically for use with people with dementia.
Why it matters
This paper describes a new 20-item, carer-rated scale for assessing daily-living abilities in people with dementia, reporting good reliability and validity. The authors believe the scale will be useful for assessing patients in the community or in clinical research trials, so it is an assessment tool rather than a treatment.
-
The Dementia Severity Rating Scale (DSRS) is an informant-based, multiple-choice questionnaire that assesses severity from the mildest to the most severe stages in the major functional and cognitive domains affected in Alzheimer disease (AD).
Why it matters
This paper describes a caregiver questionnaire called the Dementia Severity Rating Scale that rates Alzheimer's disease severity from mild to severe. It is a measurement tool for research and care, not a treatment or cure.
-
A significant minority of degenerative dementias lack distinctive inclusion bodies, plagues or tangles on pathological examination.
Why it matters
In the largest published family with a non-specific degenerative dementia lacking plaques or tangles, the disease was mapped to a region of chromosome 3. This is a genetic finding in one family and does not yet offer a treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
The findings show high rates of new onset dementia, increasing markedly with age, and suggest rapid acceleration of one or more processes that is common in advanced age.
-
We investigated the relationship between preoperative MRI hippocampal volumes and clinical neuropsychological memory test data obtained before and after temporal lobectomy and amygdalohippocampectomy for intractable epilepsy in 44 left (LTL) and 36 right (RTL) temporal lobectomy patients.
-
The distribution of scores in the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) of women aged 70-79 years from a rural area of Cambridgeshire is reported.
Why it matters
In this group of women aged 70-79, lower education and lower socioeconomic group were linked to lower scores on the Mini Mental State Examination, but only increasing age was significantly related to more diagnoses of dementia. This suggests that test scores alone may reflect education and social background rather than dementia itself.
-
40/100
From a series of 460 dementia patients referred to a regional brain bank, 14 (3%) patients had a pathologic diagnosis of primary degeneration of the brain involving multiple sites (frontoparietal cortex, striatum, medial thalamus, substantia nigra, and hypoglossal nucleus), with cell loss and astrocytosis.
-
The dendritic atrophy seen in childhood continued into adulthood, with a marked decrease in dendritic branching, dendritic length, and spine frequency in elderly adults with the Down syndrome.
Why it matters
This Golgi study found continued dendritic atrophy into adulthood in people with Down syndrome, with decreased dendritic branching, length and spine frequency in elderly adults, and occasional degenerating neurons after age 30. It suggests these abnormalities may relate to early dementia in older adults with Down syndrome but reports no treatment or cure.
-
Pfeiffer's Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) is a brief screening test for organic brain syndromes.
-
The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and its related conditions are a public health problem of unprecedented proportions due to the debilitating and fatal nature of the disease, the sociocultural implications related to contagion, and its initial appearance in certain socially stigmatized groups.
-
A standardized, semi-structured interview for examining and recording the mental state in elderly subjects is described.
Why it matters
Describes the Geriatric Mental State Schedule, a standardized, semi-structured interview for recording the mental state of older people, with sections on disorientation and other cognitive problems. The authors believe it shows good reliability between psychiatric raters.
-
This study provides validated conversion tables between the Q mci screen and two widely-used cognitive instruments, to support the use of the Q mci screen in research (facilitating cross-instrument comparability and harmonization across studies), and clinical settings (determining eligibility for disease-modifying therapies).
Why it matters
This study created conversion tables between the Q mci screen, MMSE, and MoCA to allow score comparability across settings and studies. The Q mci screen showed a broader scoring range and greater sensitivity in the mid-range of cognitive performance than the MMSE or MoCA.
-
T2D was associated with a higher risk and earlier onset of dementia, especially in cases with T2D diagnosed at ages 30-54 years.
Why it matters
This prospective cohort study found that type 2 diabetes was linked to higher and earlier dementia risk, especially when diagnosed at ages 30-54, and estimated that optimizing modifiable risk factors could potentially prevent many cases. It supports integrating multidomain interventions into diabetes care, but the prevention estimate is modelled rather than proven in a trial.
-
Four themes described current primary care practitioner practices in dementia diagnosis and management (1) Family concern triggers dementia investigation (2) GPs delay conversations about dementia (3) Completing routine cognitive assessments in the 75+ health assessment, and (4) Variability in post-diagnostic care.
Why it matters
This qualitative interview study identified current practices and barriers in Australian primary care for diagnosing and managing dementia, including delayed conversations and variability in post-diagnostic care. The findings inform a practice change intervention to improve early diagnosis and management, not to treat or cure dementia.
-
Integrating EEG features with plasma biomarkers improves prediction of cognitive function from mild cognitive impairment to moderate dementia, pending external validation.
Why it matters
In 75 patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild to moderate dementia, combining EEG features with plasma biomarkers predicted cognitive scores better than either alone. This is a small two-center study of prediction methods, not a treatment or prevention trial.
-
The MMSE model achieves a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.84 (95% CI: 1.64-2.04) internally and 2.19 in external validation.
Why it matters
Models using routinely collected data predicted rates of cognitive and functional decline in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment, with the MMSE model achieving a mean absolute error of 1.84 internally and 2.19 in external validation. The authors say such a tool could support personalised care planning and give people and families greater clarity, but it does not treat or prevent the disease.
-
Cognitive interventions, including cognitive stimulation therapy, cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive training, are increasingly recommended as key components of non-pharmacological post-diagnostic support for people with dementia.
Why it matters
This article reviews evidence that cognitive interventions have varying benefits for people with dementia and identifies barriers to their use in Australian community settings. It aims to inform implementation strategies but does not test whether these interventions prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease.
-
End-of-life topics were discussed in 36% of consultations (in regional hospitals, 53%; in academic settings, 27%), and predominantly during diagnostic consultations (54%).
Why it matters
This mixed-method study examined how often end-of-life topics and euthanasia were discussed in hospital consultations with people with dementia and their families. It concerns communication and decision-making in care, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
-
We observed measurement differences in the HCAP across H/L and NHW older adults for the memory, language, executive functioning, and orientation, but not visuospatial, domains.
Why it matters
This study found measurement differences in a cognitive assessment protocol across Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic White older adults. It shows that measurement equivalence cannot be assumed, which affects how cognitive test results are interpreted, not how dementia is treated or prevented.
-
39/100
Patients with PDD showed a more severe phenotype than those with DLB, with higher scores in motor severity, hallucinations, delusions, somnolence, and urinary dysfunction (all p≤0.01).
Why it matters
This study found that Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies have distinct clinical phenotypes, with Parkinson's disease dementia showing more severe motor and psychiatric symptoms. These differences may inform symptomatic and disease-modifying management, but the work is about describing phenotypes rather than testing any treatment.
-
The CES effectively distinguished between different levels of caregiver strain.
Why it matters
This study validated a Danish version of the Carer Experience Scale in family caregivers of people with dementia, finding it distinguished levels of caregiver strain with acceptable psychometric properties. It is a measurement tool study and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for dementia.
-
We conducted a scoping review to map the rapidly evolving landscape of wearable and ambient sensing technologies for monitoring people with dementia across home and institutional settings.
Why it matters
This scoping review maps wearable and ambient sensing technologies for monitoring people with dementia and sets out five implementation principles, including human-centered design and privacy. It concerns monitoring and care design, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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.
- Disparities in High-Risk Medication Use—Implications for Health Equity and Deprescribing Practices
- Prediction models for dementia and neuropathology in the oldest old: the Vantaa 85+ cohort study
- Conventional and neuropsychological criteria for mild cognitive impairment show similar prognostic value for dementia across 12 years in a non-clinical setting
- Reliability and Validity of the Thai Version of the PAINAD Scale: An Extended Application of Pain Assessment in the Moderately Severe Stage of Dementia
- Molecular mechanisms of depression: perspectives on new treatment strategies
- Nothing to complain about? Residents' and relatives' views on a "good life" and ethical challenges in nursing homes
- The Mini-Cog: receiver operating characteristics with expert and naïve raters
- The relationship between cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and depression in elderly women
- Cognitive impairment predicts poststroke death in long-term follow-up