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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Impaired spatial navigation was associated with conversion to dementia within 2 and 4 years and with key CSF and MRI biomarkers for AD and neurodegeneration in patients with SCD and MCI.
Why it matters
In 156 people with subjective cognitive decline and 176 with mild cognitive impairment, slower performance on a floor maze test was associated with progression to all-cause dementia at 2-year follow-up. This concerns a possible early marker of dementia risk, not a treatment, cure or prevention.
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The traditional complications of diabetes mellitus are well known and continue to pose a considerable burden on millions of people living with diabetes mellitus.
Why it matters
This review reports that dementia is now among the leading causes of death in people with diabetes in some countries and describes links between diabetes and cognitive decline. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Cohort studies report inconsistent associations between body mass index (BMI) and all-cause incident dementia.
Why it matters
This study investigated the link between body weight and fat measures across life and the risk of dementia in UK Biobank participants. It also explored possible mechanisms involving metabolites, inflammatory cells, and brain structures.
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There was some evidence that the use of smartphones and tablets could aid cognitive function in older adults without cognitive impairment, particularly executive function and processing speed.
Why it matters
This review found some evidence that smartphone and tablet use could aid cognitive function in older adults without cognitive impairment and modest evidence it could support memory in people with dementia. It does not report any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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65/100
Older adults with cognitive disorders can learn smartphone-based memory strategies and doing so benefits prospective memory functioning and independence.
Why it matters
In a 4-week randomized controlled trial of 52 older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia, training to use a digital voice recorder or reminder app was rated acceptable and feasible, and participants reported improved daily prospective memory on questionnaires and structured interviews. Greater app usage was associated with better prospective memory and greater improvements in instrumental activities of daily living, but this is a small short-term trial of a behavioral aid, not a treatment, cure or prevention.
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Nineteen cross-sectional studies that investigated 19.734 community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults free of disability and dementia were included.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis found that high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was cross-sectionally linked to better physical performance and cognitive function, and in longitudinal studies reduced the risk of global cognitive decline in non-demented older adults. However, it found no significant associations between Mediterranean diet adherence and the incidence of mobility problems, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia.
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Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 is the single most important genetic risk factor for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease (AD), while lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, diet, and physical activity also have impact on cognition.
Why it matters
In a cross-sectional study of 6,160 Chinese adults aged 80 and older, healthier lifestyle was associated with better cognitive function regardless of APOE genotype. The findings suggest that lifestyle may influence cognition even in those at high genetic risk, but the study cannot prove causation or prevention.
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65/100
Most studies have focused on dementia and suicidal behavior, with inconsistent results.
Why it matters
This cohort study found that older adults with recent diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment or dementia were at increased risk of attempting suicide. It identifies a risk needing supportive services and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Patients with Alzheimer dementia from the Swedish Dementia Registry starting on ChEIs within 3 months of the dementia diagnosis were included and compared to nontreated patients with Alzheimer dementia.
Why it matters
This registry study compared 11,652 patients with Alzheimer dementia who started cholinesterase inhibitors within 3 months of diagnosis to 5,826 nontreated patients, examining cognitive decline and risk of severe dementia or death. It reports an association between cholinesterase inhibitor use and outcomes but does not prove that these drugs cure or prevent Alzheimer's disease.
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We developed machine learning prediction models for post-operative delirium that performed better than chance and are comparable with traditional stepwise logistic regression.
Why it matters
In 560 older surgical patients without dementia, machine learning models predicted post-operative delirium with area-under-the-curve values of 0.62 to 0.71 using a large feature set. This concerns delirium after surgery, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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In this cohort study, exposure to residential segregation throughout young adulthood was associated with worse processing speed among black participants as early as in midlife.
Why it matters
Among 1,568 black participants, greater cumulative exposure to segregated neighborhoods throughout young adulthood was associated with worse processing speed as early as midlife. This is an observational association with cognitive performance, not a treatment, cure, or prevention finding.
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Controversies persist about the associations of body mass index (BMI) with risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.
Why it matters
Pooling 29 prospective studies, this meta-analysis linked underweight in midlife (1.39-fold), obesity in midlife (1.31-fold) and underweight in late life (1.64-fold) to higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, and linked overweight and obesity in late life to 21% and 25% lower risk. It reports that in midlife, risk of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's and vascular dementia rose once BMI passed about 29, 30 and 32 kg/m², so the same BMI may mean different things at different ages. These are observational links, not proof that changing weight prevents or treats Alzheimer's.
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Sarcopenia is highly prevalent in individuals with CVD, dementia, diabetes mellitus and respiratory disease.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis found that sarcopenia was more common in people with dementia (26.4%) than in controls (8.3%), and also more common in people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and respiratory disease. It shows sarcopenia often occurs alongside these conditions but does not test any treatment to prevent or cure dementia.
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The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is an increasingly used screening tool for cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
Many studies of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) compared patients with healthy volunteers, a design this study calls "biased" because it does not represent a real clinic. Instead, it tested the MoCA on 710 people attending an old age psychiatry service, checking results against a multidisciplinary consensus diagnosis, to set cutoff scores for mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in clinical practice. It is about screening accuracy only and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention.
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The Hamburg City Health Study (HCHS) is a large, prospective, long-term, population-based cohort study and a unique research platform and network to obtain substantial knowledge about several important risk and prognostic factors in major chronic diseases.
Why it matters
This paper describes the design of the Hamburg City Health Study, a large prospective population-based cohort of 45,000 participants aged 45 to 74. It is a research platform for studying risk and prognostic factors in chronic diseases and does not report any treatment, cure, or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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Incidence of dementia is nearly 50 times higher in the year after a major stroke compared with that in the general population, but excess risk is substantially lower after transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke.
Why it matters
In this population study, the rate of dementia was nearly 50 times higher in the year after a major stroke than in the general population, with much lower excess risk after transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke. This describes a link between stroke and later dementia but does not test any treatment, cure or prevention.
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The results suggest that the contribution of education to cognitive reserve is limited to its association with level of cognitive function before old age.
Why it matters
In this cohort study, education was associated with a higher initial level of global cognition but not with the rate of cognitive change, and higher education was linked to a lower likelihood of cerebral infarcts but not other neuropathologic markers. The authors conclude that education's contribution to cognitive reserve is limited to its association with the level of cognitive function before decline begins.
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Understanding how metabolites are longitudinally influenced by age and sex could facilitate the identification of metabolomic profiles and trajectories that indicate disease risk.
Why it matters
This study describes how metabolites in plasma change with age and sex in a dementia-free cohort, and reports heritability estimates for metabolites. It does not test or report any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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In an older cohort with low cerebrovascular disease burden, T2DM contributes to cognitive decline via neurodegeneration.
Why it matters
This study found no direct effect of type 2 diabetes on decline in cortical thickness or cognitive function, but there was an indirect pathway linking diabetes and cognitive decline via baseline cortical thickness. The negative effect of diabetes on baseline cortical thickness was reduced in those with greater education.
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MYB will be the largest internet-based trial to attempt to prevent cognitive decline and potentially dementia.
Why it matters
This is the protocol of an ongoing three-year randomized controlled trial testing an online multi-modal lifestyle intervention to prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Whether it works is not yet known, as results are not reported.
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By pooling two long-running community studies from the same region of Pennsylvania, researchers compared dementia rates across people born in different decades, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Each successively younger birth cohort had a substantially lower risk of developing dementia at a given age, with the youngest group's risk about a quarter of the oldest group's. This adds US evidence, independent of Framingham, that generational health improvements are lowering dementia risk.
Why it matters
By pooling two long-running community studies from the same region of Pennsylvania, researchers found that each successively younger birth cohort had a substantially lower risk of developing dementia at a given age, with the youngest group's risk about a quarter of the oldest group's. This adds US evidence, independent of Framingham, that generational health improvements are lowering dementia risk.
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This 23-year study found a U-shaped relationship between alcohol and dementia risk: people who abstained from alcohol in midlife, as well as those who drank heavily (more than 14 units, about 14 standard drinks, per week), both had a higher risk of developing dementia than people who drank moderately.
Why it matters
Both long-term abstainers and heavy drinkers had higher dementia risk than moderate drinkers, and heavier drinking and signs of a drinking problem raised risk further. This is an observational association, so it cannot prove that moderate drinking itself protects the brain.
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Prospective cohort study with 5 years of follow-up.
Why it matters
This study compared walking and thinking changes over time in older adults who developed dementia with those who did not. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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We found no evidence to support the theory that natural variation in cumulative exposure to endogenous oestrogens across the reproductive period influences dementia incidence in late life.
Why it matters
This large population-based cohort study in Latin America and China found no evidence that natural variation in reproductive period or other indicators of endogenous estrogen exposure protects against dementia. It also found greater parity was positively associated with incident dementia, but this does not establish a treatment or prevention.
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Metformin should continue to be used as a first line therapy for diabetes in patients at risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis found that in people with diabetes, metformin use was associated with significantly less cognitive impairment and reduced dementia incidence, though Mini-Mental State Examination scores were not significantly affected. Some included studies found negative or neutral effects, and the authors note a potential mechanism of metformin-induced vitamin B deficiency.
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.
- Implications for Policy: The Nursing Home as Least Restrictive Setting
- A Meta-analysis of Loneliness and Risk of Dementia using Longitudinal Data from >600,000 Individuals
- Antihypertensive classes, cognitive decline and incidence of dementia: a network meta-analysis
- Factors associated with: problems of using exploratory multivariable regression to identify causal risk factors
- Individual goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation to improve everyday functioning for people with early-stage dementia: A multicentre randomised controlled trial (the GREAT trial)
- Psychoeducational Program for the Family Member Caregivers of People with Dementia to Reduce Perceived Burden and Increase Patient's Quality of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to and interventions for proxy decision-making by family carers of people with dementia
- Multimorbidity burden and dementia risk in older adults: The role of inflammation and genetics
- Relatives of the Impaired Elderly: Correlates of Feelings of Burden
- Incidence of dementia is increased in type 2 diabetes and reduced by the use of sulfonylureas and metformin