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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Cognitive rehabilitation for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer's disease is readily available to the geriatric population.
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The influence of mixed dietary patterns on cognitive changes is unknown.
Why it matters
This longitudinal study followed 2223 dementia-free people aged 60 and over for 6 years to see how dietary patterns related to cognitive decline. It reports an association between diet and decline, not a proven way to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
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Our findings suggest that an adapted Mediterranean diet or a wheat-based, diverse diet with similar components may reduce the rate of cognitive decline in later life in the Chinese population.
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Replication of these findings in a dietary intervention trial would be required to verify its relevance to brain health.
Why it matters
Among 960 participants followed about 4.7 years, a higher MIND diet score was associated with slower decline in global cognitive score. The authors say a dietary intervention trial would be required to verify whether this is relevant to brain health.
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The results suggest that longitudinal structural trajectories may differ in major depressive disorder patients according to their clinical response to treatment.
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We have developed MCI risk scores using variables easily assessable in the clinical setting and that may be useful in routine patient care.
Why it matters
In 1,449 cognitively normal people aged 70 to 89, 401 (27.7%) developed mild cognitive impairment, and a risk score using easily assessable clinical variables classified risk, with those in the highest quartile having about a 7-fold higher risk than the lowest. Adding APOE ε4 carrier status improved the model, but the authors note validation in independent samples is required, and no treatment or prevention is tested.
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Hippocampal atrophy is associated with memory impairment and dementia and serves as a key biomarker in the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
In 92 non-demented older adults, greater daily walking activity was linked to larger hippocampal volume, a brain measure tied to memory and early Alzheimer's disease. This kind of study can only show an association, not prove that walking protects the brain, and it did not test whether walking prevents dementia.
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Out of 3127 abstracts, 291 were included in the review.
Why it matters
This review screened 3,127 abstracts and included 291 observational studies, then asked eight international experts to weigh each risk factor. The strongest support was for depression, midlife high blood pressure, physical inactivity, diabetes, midlife obesity, high cholesterol and smoking; for heart disease, kidney problems, diet and cognitive activity, more research was needed. Because the evidence is observational, it links these factors to dementia risk but does not show that changing them prevents dementia. The authors wrote that the list would be used to design a new dementia-prevention trial.
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62/100
These findings support the hypothesis that both the DASH and Mediterranean diet patterns are associated with slower rates of cognitive decline in the same cohort of older persons.
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Significant comorbidities were discovered at autopsy in individuals with dementia.
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Obesity has been consistently associated with dementia.
Why it matters
This population-based cohort examined whether body mass index measured in midlife and late life was associated with later dementia or Alzheimer's disease, independent of other obesity-related conditions. It reports associations only and does not show that any weight change prevents dementia.
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62/100
Over a median follow-up of 5.1 years, 153 of 534 participants (28.7%) with prevalent or incident MCI progressed to dementia (71.3 per 1,000 person-years).
Why it matters
This population study found that people with mild cognitive impairment, including those who later returned to normal thinking, had a high risk of eventually progressing to dementia. The authors conclude that a diagnosis of MCI at any time has prognostic value, but this finding does not offer a treatment or prevention.
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Brief instruments to screen for cognitive impairment can adequately detect dementia, but there is no empirical evidence that screening improves decision making.
Why it matters
This systematic review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found that several brief cognitive screening instruments have adequate test performance to detect dementia. It concluded that whether interventions for patients or their caregivers have a clinically significant effect in persons with earlier detected cognitive impairment is still unclear.
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62/100
The results indicate that cognitive difficulties in memory and speed may occur prior to a HF diagnosis, while those with HF may experience steeper declines in reasoning as measured by word series test.
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The ultimate goal of cognitive enhancement as an intervention for age-related cognitive decline is transfer to everyday cognitive functioning.
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During the 12-year follow-up period, 61 participants (7.8%) had a reported hypoglycemic event, and 148 (18.9%) developed dementia.
Why it matters
This prospective population-based study found that older adults with diabetes who experienced a hypoglycemic event had a 2-fold increased risk for developing dementia compared with those who did not have a hypoglycemic event. It suggests there seems to be a bidirectional association between hypoglycemia and dementia in this group.
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Feasibility was demonstrated with regard to recruitment, attrition, and treatment characteristics.
Why it matters
This pilot trial of the Peaceful Mind cognitive-behavioral program for anxiety in 32 people with dementia showed feasibility, but significant positive effects were not noted in other outcomes or at 6-month follow-up, and the pilot nature prohibits conclusions about efficacy. It is an early study of a symptom-focused intervention, not a treatment, cure, or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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Mahjong and TC can preserve functioning or delay decline in certain cognitive domains, even in those with significant cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
In this 12-week trial in nursing homes, mahjong and tai chi preserved functioning or delayed decline in certain cognitive domains in people who already had dementia. The typical pattern was that control participants deteriorated while the activity groups did not, but this was an open-label study, so it does not show that these activities prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease.
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Why it matters
Discusses cognitive reserve in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. The focus is a concept for making sense of differences between people, rather than a treatment or a prevention method.
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According to our findings, the identification of autonomic dysfunction seems to be of great importance in clinical practice, not only to avoid falls and other complications, but also as a possible predictor of survival.
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Residence in an SCU is associated with some, but not all, markers of better quality end-of-life care among nursing home residents with advanced dementia.
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Even in a cohort of patients seen at dementia research centers, reversion from MCI was fairly common.
Why it matters
Among 3,020 people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment at US Alzheimer's Disease Centers, about 16% were back to normal or near-normal cognition roughly a year later, and five things measured at the first MCI visit (MMSE score, CDR score, MCI type, FAQ score and APOE ε4 status) helped predict who reverted. But those who reverted had a "sharply elevated" risk of going back to MCI or dementia over the next 3 years compared with people with no history of MCI. The study observed people rather than testing a treatment, so it does not show how to cure or prevent Alzheimer's, and improving on a test is not the same as being in the clear.
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Aging-associated WMHs evolve significantly over a 4-year period.
Why it matters
Over about four years, growth of existing white matter hyperintensities was linked to faster decline in episodic memory and executive function, while newly appearing hyperintensities were not linked to cognitive change. This suggests that worsening of already-present white matter injury, rather than new spots, tracks with cognitive decline.
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Cognitive rehabilitation (CR) is a promising treatment approach for older adults with dementia because it aims at supporting the management of day-to-day problems.
Why it matters
In a 201-person randomized trial in mild Alzheimer's dementia, 12 weekly one-to-one cognitive rehabilitation sessions did not improve everyday functioning, the main outcome. Patients and carers stuck with the program, and secondary results favoured it on quality of life and satisfaction, with an antidepressant effect seen only in women. The authors suggest the program may have been too short and not personalised enough, with too little carry-over into daily life, and say further studies are needed to know whether cognitive rehabilitation helps.
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In this large longitudinal investigation of generally healthy individuals Mediterranean diet was not found to be protective of cognitive decline.
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.
- Deep brain stimulation: postoperative issues
- Effects of physical exercise on cognitive function of older adults with mild cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Associations of ophthalmic and systemic conditions with incident dementia in the UK Biobank
- Changing the food environment: the effect of trained volunteers on mealtime care for older people in hospital
- Dementia and Alzheimer's disease incidence in relationship to cardiovascular disease in the Cardiovascular Health Study cohort
- Balancing Health and Sustainability: Assessing the Benefits of Plant-Based Diets and the Risk of Pesticide Residues
- Association of social isolation and loneliness with risk of incident hospital-treated infections: an analysis of data from the UK Biobank and Finnish Health and Social Support studies
- Prevalence of mild cognitive impairment by multiple classifications: The Monongahela-Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team (MYHAT) project
- LUMEN: Prototype Conversational AI to Streamline Dementia Assessments
- Psychosocial burdens in early- versus late-onset dementia: analysis of discrimination, stress, and loneliness in the All of Us Research Program