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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60/100
The models could aid clinicians in the interpretation of CSF biomarker and hippocampal volume results in individuals with MCI, and help research and clinical settings to prepare for a future of precision medicine in Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
This modelling study suggests that combining CSF biomarker and hippocampal volume results could help clinicians interpret test results in people with mild cognitive impairment. It is about improving prognosis and preparing for precision medicine, not about a treatment, cure or prevention.
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60/100
Fifty-three studies were included in the narrative synthesis.
Why it matters
This systematic review of 53 studies found that positive aspects of caregiving were associated with lower depressive symptoms and burden and with better mental health, quality of life, satisfaction with life, and competence. Positive aspects were not associated with self-rated health or personal strain, and most studies were cross-sectional, so cause and effect cannot be assumed.
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So far, however, only few such multi-component trials have been launched, but yielding promising results.
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Further studies should bridge the gap in understanding and give a more global portrait by adding important personal variables such as dementia, organizational variables such as use of community and primary care, and contextual variables such as social and economic frailty.
Why it matters
This systematic review aimed to identify variables associated with frequent emergency department use by older adults, finding only eight studies that met inclusion criteria. It does not report on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Virtually all adults with Down syndrome (DS) show the neuropathological changes of Alzheimer disease (AD) by the age of 40 years.
Why it matters
This review states that "virtually all adults with Down syndrome" show the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease by age 40, partly because the APP gene, which makes the amyloid precursor protein, sits on chromosome 21 and is overexpressed. The authors argue that this predictable timing lets researchers study how Alzheimer's develops over a lifetime, and that comparing the risk, biomarker and genetic profiles of adults with Down syndrome with those of people who have Alzheimer's in the general population can show which disease pathways are shared and which differ. It summarises earlier research rather than reporting new data, and the age of 40 refers to brain changes, not to when dementia symptoms begin; it does not report a treatment.
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Preliminary evidence suggests that protective effects of the MIND diet are geographically generalizable.
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While the role of diet and nutrition in cognitive health and prevention of dementia in older adults has attracted much attention, the efficacy of different dietary patterns remains uncertain.
Why it matters
This systematic review found positive effects of dietary patterns including the Mediterranean, DASH, MIND, and Anti-inflammatory diets on cognitive health outcomes in older adults. The Mediterranean diet was the most investigated, while evidence for other patterns was more limited but showed promising results, especially for those at risk of cardiovascular disease.
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Research into dementia prevention is of paramount importance if the dementia epidemic is to be halted.
Why it matters
This 2018 Review summarises dementia-prevention trials and reports no new data of its own. It says the FINGER trial "showed that a multidomain lifestyle intervention can benefit cognition in elderly people with an elevated risk of dementia", while the MAPT and PreDIVA trials showed no statistically significant benefit on their primary results, with benefits seen only in "additional analyses among participants at risk of dementia". The authors conclude these results "suggest" that aiming prevention at at-risk individuals is an effective strategy, and they describe the World Wide FINGERS network, set up to harmonise dementia-prevention studies.
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Telemental health (TMH) for older patients has the potential to increase access to geriatric specialists, reduce travel times for patients and providers, and reduce ever growing healthcare costs.
Why it matters
This systematic review found that telepsychiatry was feasible and well accepted for geriatric patients in areas including cognitive testing and dementia diagnosis and treatment. Data on cost-effectiveness was limited, and Medicare reimbursement for telemedicine is restricted to rural areas, limiting broader use.
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We evaluated dementia-free Framingham Heart Study (generation 3) participants (mean age 48.5 years, 46.8% men) who underwent cognitive testing for memory, abstract reasoning, visual perception, attention, and executive function (n = 2,231) and brain MRI (n = 2018) to assess total white matter, lobar gray matter, and white matter hyperintensity volumes and fractional anisotropy (FA) measures.
Why it matters
This study examined whether early morning serum cortisol is associated with thinking and brain structure in young and middle-aged adults without dementia. It is observational and does not test whether changing cortisol levels affects dementia risk.
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Given the potential therapeutic effect of vascular disease control timing to reduce dementia risk, we investigated the age-related influences of vascular risk factor burden on brain structure throughout the lifespan.
Why it matters
This Framingham Heart Study analysis found that vascular risk factor burden at younger ages was most strongly associated with current and future brain volume. It is an observational study, so it cannot prove that controlling vascular risk factors at younger ages prevents dementia.
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We aimed to evaluate the link between severe hypoglycaemia and domain-specific cognitive decline, smaller brain volumes and dementia in adults with type 2 diabetes, which so far has been relatively poorly characterised.
Why it matters
This study examined links between severe hypoglycaemia and cognitive decline, brain volumes, and dementia in older adults with type 2 diabetes. It is a cross-sectional and survival analysis of associations and does not show that preventing hypoglycaemia treats or prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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Knowledge among those living in low- and middle-income countries are largely unknown, presenting challenges for the development of National action plans consistent with World Health Organization directives.
Why it matters
This review of population surveys found that public knowledge about dementia prevention and treatment remains poor, with the role of cardiovascular risk factors poorly understood. It is about public understanding, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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60/100
Circulating metabolites were consistently associated with cognition, dementia, and lifestyle factors, opening new avenues for prevention of cognitive decline and dementia.
Why it matters
This study discovered and replicated 15 circulating metabolites associated with cognition, including subfractions of high-density lipoprotein, docosahexaenoic acid, ornithine, glutamine, and glycoprotein acetyls. Six of these metabolites were related to dementia risk and lifestyle factors, opening new avenues for prevention research.
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Physical exercise, aerobic exercise in particular, benefits global cognition in MCI patients.
Why it matters
This systematic review and meta-analysis found that physical exercise had beneficial effects on global cognition in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Subgroup analysis suggested that different exercise modalities may have different effects, though the review was limited to eleven studies.
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Sample weights were used to ensure result generalizability.
Why it matters
In a nationally representative sample of older US adults, distance vision problems and self-reported vision problems were associated with poorer cognitive function and higher odds of dementia. This cross-sectional study shows an association only and cannot prove that vision loss causes dementia or that treating vision would prevent it.
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Vitamin C plays a role in neuronal differentiation, maturation, myelin formation and modulation of the cholinergic, catecholinergic, and glutaminergic systems.
Why it matters
This review gathered 50 studies on the link between vitamin C status and cognitive performance in healthy and cognitively impaired people. It does not report that vitamin C prevents or treats Alzheimer's disease.
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Respiratory distress escalated in the last days.
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CSD is common in older inpatients and associated with considerably worse outcomes, with little variation between different types of CSD.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the selected non-pharmacological lifestyle activities on the delay of cognitive decline in normal aging.
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Hemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c ), a measure of average blood glucose level, is associated with the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.
Why it matters
This study examined whether glucose peaks in midlife, measured by 1,5-anhydroglucitol, are associated with dementia risk and 20-year cognitive decline. It reports an association with a blood measure, so it does not show that controlling glucose peaks prevents or treats Alzheimer's disease.
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60/100
From 2000 to 2002, we assessed parental history of dementia in participants without dementia of the Rotterdam Study.
Why it matters
This study looked at whether having a parent with dementia was linked to a higher risk of dementia and to signs of brain disease on MRI. It found associations that may help understand who is at risk, but it does not test any way to prevent or treat dementia.
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The study indicated that impairment in ADL performance is strongly associated with UI, more than CPS performance and comorbidities.
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These findings do not provide evidence of improvement in behavioral symptoms, functional status, or QoL of hearing impaired AD patients and their caregivers after 6 months of HA use.
Why it matters
In this 12-month trial of 51 patients, hearing aids did not significantly improve behavioral symptoms, functional abilities, or quality of life compared with inactive hearing aids at 6 months. The findings do not provide evidence that hearing aids help these symptoms in people with Alzheimer's disease and age-related hearing loss.
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A total of 17 studies met the inclusion criteria.
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.
- Clinical determinants of poststroke dementia
- Breast cancer screening among Medicare Advantage enrollees with dementia
- Current perspectives on postoperative cognitive dysfunction in geriatric patients: insights from clinical practice
- Chicago ZIP Code-Linked Area Deprivation Index as a Predictor of Dementia Diagnosis
- Insulin and cognitive function in an elderly population. The Rotterdam Study
- Aerobic fitness is associated with hippocampal volume in elderly humans
- Computerized Cognitive Training for Older Adults at Higher Dementia Risk due to Diabetes: Findings From a Randomized Controlled Trial
- NSAID use and dementia risk in the Cardiovascular Health Study: role of APOE and NSAID type
- No improvement with palliative care in patients with moderate to severe dementia
- Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Residence Areas on Long-Term Survival in Patients With Early-Onset Dementia: The Korean National Health Insurance Service Database Study