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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Current criteria for the clinical diagnosis of pathologically confirmed corticobasal degeneration (CBD) no longer reflect the expanding understanding of this disease and its clinicopathologic correlations.
Why it matters
Sets out new criteria for diagnosing corticobasal degeneration (CBD), drawing on expert consensus and 267 cases confirmed at autopsy. It defines stricter criteria for probable CBD and broader criteria for possible CBD, and the authors say the criteria still need validation.
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Exposure to medications with severe AC cognitive burden may be a risk factor for developing MCI.
Why it matters
This study found that older adults exposed to at least three possible anticholinergic medications for at least 90 days had higher odds of being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. It did not find a significant association with dementia diagnosis.
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Our results suggest that search strategies that use automated electronic search strategies to extract Charlson comorbidities from the clinical notes contained within the electronic medical record are feasible and reliable.
Why it matters
This study developed and validated automated electronic search strategies to identify Charlson comorbidities from medical records. It is about extracting health record data, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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A single-question screen for RBD may reliably detect disease, with psychometric properties favorably comparable to those reported for longer questionnaires.
Why it matters
This study validated a single yes/no question for screening for REM sleep behavior disorder, a risk factor for Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, with 93.8% sensitivity and 87.2% specificity. It is a screening tool for a risk factor and does not treat, cure, or prevent Alzheimer's disease.
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61/100
This Dutch cohort study compared dementia rates in two groups of older adults enrolled ten years apart.
Why it matters
Comparing two periods, dementia incidence was lower in the later group but the difference was not statistically significant. The study does not show that dementia incidence is declining or provide a treatment or prevention.
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Depressive symptoms in midlife or in late life are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia.
Why it matters
This study found that depressive symptoms in midlife or late life were associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. It suggests that depression beginning in late life may be part of the Alzheimer's disease prodrome, while recurrent depression may be linked to increased risk of vascular dementia.
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Hearing loss is independently associated with lower scores on tests of memory and executive function.
Why it matters
Among 347 adults aged 55 or older in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, none with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, worse hearing on a hearing test was linked to lower scores on tests of mental status, memory and executive function, and this held after adjusting for confounders. On average, the drop in scores linked to 25 dB of hearing loss matched the drop linked to being 6.8 years older. Because everyone was tested only once (1990-1994), the study cannot show that hearing loss causes cognitive decline or that treating it would prevent dementia; the authors call for longitudinal studies to confirm it.
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This sample of the older general public generally supported a policy of surrogate consent for AD research at baseline.
Why it matters
After an all-day education and peer deliberation session, older adults showed higher support for allowing surrogate consent for Alzheimer's disease research across several scenarios. This is about research policy and consent, not about treating, curing, or preventing the disease.
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61/100
The TICS has high diagnostic validity for identification of dementia among ethnically diverse older adults, especially when supported by the DQ and prior visit data.
Why it matters
This study tested whether telephone-based interviews could accurately identify dementia and mild cognitive impairment in an ethnically and educationally diverse sample. It concerns a method for screening and classifying cognitive problems, not a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Cognitive dysfunction, including dementia and delirium, is prevalent in geriatric emergency department (ED) patients, but often remains undetected.
Why it matters
This cohort study compared four brief screening tools for detecting cognitive dysfunction in geriatric emergency department patients. It is about detecting cognitive problems in the emergency department, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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In a large community-based sample of middle-aged adults, BI predicted an increased risk of stroke and dementia independent of vascular risk factors.
Why it matters
In 2,229 Framingham Offspring participants (average age 62), MRI signs of vascular brain injury predicted later stroke and dementia, and white-matter lesions also predicted death, independent of vascular risk factors. White-matter lesions were linked to memory-type mild cognitive impairment only in people aged 60 or older, and the dementia estimates are imprecise (for brain infarcts, HR 6.12, 95% CI 1.82–20.54). The study shows association, not cause, and tested no treatment.
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Such AR estimates cannot be derived from the living population; rather they estimate the relative contribution of specific pathologies to dementia at death.
Why it matters
In 456 consecutive brain donations from a UK study of older people, no single pathology dominated dementia at death: the largest estimated shares were age (18%), small brain (12%), small vessel disease (12%), tangles (11%) and hippocampal atrophy (10%), with plaques at 8%. The authors conclude that a treatment aimed at one pathology "may be less impressive for the majority with mixed disease," and argue for combination strategies against both degenerative and vascular damage. These are post-mortem estimates that, in the study's words, "cannot be derived from the living population," and the study tested no treatment.
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These results help explain the "obesity paradox" as differences in dementia risk across time are consistent with physical changes in the trajectory toward disability.
Why it matters
In 2,798 older US adults followed for an average of 5.4 years, people who reported being obese at age 50 had a higher risk of dementia than normal-weight people (hazard ratio 1.39; 95% CI 1.03-1.87), though the link was no longer clear after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors (1.36; 0.94-1.95). For weight measured at 65 or older, the pattern reversed: obesity was linked to a lower dementia risk (0.63; 0.44-0.91). The authors say this "obesity paradox" fits physical changes on the path toward disability, so it is an association, not evidence that weight gain in old age protects the brain.
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61/100
Inclusion and exclusion criteria were met in 303 patients, and 25 (8.3%) presented to the ED with delirium.
Why it matters
Among 303 older emergency department patients, 25 (8.3%) had delirium, and the study examined how often emergency and hospital physicians recognized it. It identifies risk factors and psychomotor subtypes of delirium in this setting.
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The relationships between total serum cholesterol (TC) and dementia and between TC and cognitive decline were investigated in a systematic review of 18 prospective studies.
Why it matters
This review of 18 prospective studies found that high cholesterol in midlife was linked to higher risk of Alzheimer's disease and any dementia, but no link was found for cholesterol measured in late life. No study found a significant association between cholesterol and vascular dementia.
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Exercise at midlife may reduce the odds of dementia in older adulthood, suggesting that exercise interventions should be explored as a potential strategy for delaying disease onset.
Why it matters
In case-control analyses, light exercise such as gardening or walking and regular sports exercise at midlife were associated with lower odds of dementia decades later. In the co-twin analyses, which control for genetic factors, the link between more exercise and lower odds of dementia only approached significance, so the evidence is not conclusive.
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High WMH was a predictor of progression from normal to MCI (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 3.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-8.17; P= .01) but not conversion from MCI to all-cause dementia.
Why it matters
In this community cohort, high white matter hyperintensities predicted progression from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment, and lower brain volume predicted conversion to Alzheimer disease dementia among people with mild cognitive impairment. These markers may help identify who is at risk, but the study did not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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The intervention provided that most scarce of caregiver commodities--time.
Why it matters
A home-based behavioral intervention for dementia caregivers gave intervention caregivers one extra hour per day not spent caregiving, at a cost of $5 per day. This addresses caregiver support and cost, not the treatment, cure, or prevention of Alzheimer's disease itself.
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Level of conscientiousness is a risk factor for Alzheimer disease.
Why it matters
In this cohort study, a high conscientiousness score was associated with an 89% reduction in risk of Alzheimer's disease compared with a low score. This is an observational association and does not show that changing personality or any intervention prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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A structured multicomponent intervention adapted to individual risk profiles can increase the quality of life of ethnically diverse dementia caregivers.
Why it matters
In this trial of caregivers from three racial or ethnic groups, Hispanic or Latino and white or Caucasian caregivers in the intervention group experienced significantly greater improvement in quality of life than those in the control group. The study used only a single 6-month follow-up assessment and combined heterogeneous cultures and ethnic groups.
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This initial report describes the ongoing 4-year longitudinal study and provides baseline results, which confirm the feasibility of obtaining home-based clinical information via mail or telephone.
Why it matters
This report sets out the ADCS Prevention Instrument Project, a 4-year longitudinal study. Its baseline results "confirm the feasibility of obtaining home-based clinical information via mail or telephone", which means prevention research could gather some data without clinic visits. It tests no treatment and shows nothing about preventing Alzheimer's. Results for the experimental instruments and the book club are in separate companion articles.
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In this large multicentre and long-term population-based study, some well-known risk factors for dementia, of vascular and Alzheimer's type, are confirmed but not others.
Why it matters
This population-based study found that older age, female sex, poor self-perceived health, stroke, and Parkinson's disease were associated with incident dementia, while alcohol and smoking were neither strongly protective nor predictive. It identifies possible risk factors but does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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61/100
Compared to people without diabetes, people with diabetes have a greater rate of decline in cognitive function and a greater risk of cognitive decline.
Why it matters
This review of prospective studies found that people with diabetes have a greater rate of decline in cognitive function and a greater risk of cognitive decline and future dementia than people without diabetes. It reports an association only and does not show that treating diabetes prevents dementia.
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MCI was prevalent in 24.7% of participants at baseline.
Why it matters
In this rural Iowa cohort, people with mild cognitive impairment who also had limitations in instrumental activities of daily living were more likely to develop disability in basic daily activities, a prerequisite for a dementia diagnosis. This finding may help identify which people with mild cognitive impairment are at higher risk of progressing to dementia.
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The relation of blood pressure with cognitive function and dementia has, in recent years, received much attention from epidemiological research.
Why it matters
This 2005 review found that the link between blood pressure and dementia depends on when blood pressure is measured: some studies suggest high blood pressure in midlife is a risk factor for late-life cognitive impairment and dementia, while in older adults low diastolic and very high systolic pressure "may be associated" with later dementia. Snapshot (cross-sectional) studies linking lower blood pressure with more dementia do not show cause and effect, and the review found only "limited evidence" that blood-pressure medication protects against 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.
- Feasibility of an Immersive Virtual Reality Intervention for Hospitalized Patients: An Observational Cohort Study
- How to Implement Advance Care Planning for People With Dementia: A Scoping Review
- Is pre-existing dementia an independent predictor of outcome after stroke? A propensity score-matched analysis
- Dementia with Lewy bodies
- Quality of end-of-life care in patients with dementia compared to patients with cancer: A population-based register study
- A family booklet about comfort care in advanced dementia: three-country evaluation
- Automated hippocampal shape analysis predicts the onset of dementia in mild cognitive impairment
- Memory impairment on free and cued selective reminding predicts dementia
- Estimating the burden of underdiagnosis within England: A modelling study of linked primary care data
- Stroke and dementia risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis