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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Poorer OI in older adults without dementia was associated with increased risk of dementia.
Why it matters
This study found that poorer sense of smell in older adults without dementia was associated with increased risk of later dementia, in both Black and White participants, though the effect was weaker among Black participants. It suggests that smell testing may help identify people at higher risk, but it does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Women show better verbal memory than men in aMCI despite similar levels of brain hypometabolism.
Why it matters
In this cross-sectional analysis, women with amnestic mild cognitive impairment performed better than men on verbal memory despite similar levels of brain hypometabolism. It describes a possible sex-related difference in cognitive reserve, not a treatment, cure or prevention.
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Analyses were performed within the Rotterdam Study (baseline 1997), a prospective, population-based cohort.
Why it matters
This study evaluated whether thyroid function is associated with incident dementia, cognitive function, and subclinical vascular brain disease. It examines a possible risk factor but does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Many people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) suffer from concomitant depression or anxiety.
Why it matters
This Rotterdam Study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between mild cognitive impairment and later depression or anxiety. It concerns psychiatric outcomes in people with MCI, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Aβ40 levels changed less for the simvastatin group (not statistically significant).
Why it matters
This pilot trial of simvastatin 40 mg versus placebo in adults with Down syndrome aged 50 or older recruited only 21 people and found that Aβ40 levels changed less for the simvastatin group, which was not statistically significant. As a small feasibility study, it does not show that simvastatin prevents dementia.
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Although multi-component social support interventions may improve caregiver well-being, there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether a change in social support is the underlying mediating factor.
Why it matters
This systematic review of 39 papers on social support interventions for dementia caregivers found that content, intensity, uptake, effectiveness, and quality varied widely, and that the level of evidence was generally low. Results were inconsistent, with some papers showing benefit and others no improvement on social support and well-being variables, though multi-component interventions were most effective.
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Changing staff practice in nursing homes is possible but complex.
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There is emerging evidence that physical exercise significantly benefits individuals living with a dementia in nursing homes.
Why it matters
This review of twelve studies in nursing home residents with dementia found that most reported positive effects of physical exercise on cognition, agitation, mood, mobility, and functional ability. The authors describe this as emerging evidence, so exercise should be seen as a promising but not yet confirmed approach for people already living with dementia.
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Women with MCI have greater longitudinal rates of cognitive and functional progression than men.
Why it matters
Among 398 people with mild cognitive impairment followed for up to 8 years, women declined faster than men on cognitive and functional measures, and the effect was greater in ApoE4 carriers. This identifies a difference in progression rates, but the study does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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A substantial part of dementia cases could be prevented if modifiable risk factors would be eliminated.
Why it matters
This study estimated how much dementia could be prevented if risk factors like overweight, hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, smoking, and low education were removed. The combined preventable proportion was 0.23 in the earlier cohort and 0.30 in the later cohort, suggesting a substantial share of cases might be linked to these factors.
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The diagnostic accuracy for MSA was suboptimal in this autopsy study.
Why it matters
Among patients clinically diagnosed with multiple system atrophy, only 62% had that diagnosis confirmed at autopsy, with dementia with Lewy bodies being the most common misdiagnosis. This shows that some dementia-related conditions can be mistaken for multiple system atrophy, which matters for both patient care and research.
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Online literature databases and trial registers, previous systematic reviews and leading journals were searched for relevant randomised controlled trials.
Why it matters
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether cognitive interventions improve general cognition in dementia, categorising them as cognitive stimulation and cognitive training. The available text does not report whether these interventions improved cognition.
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These contrasting illness narratives affect and shape the experiences, thoughts, and fears of patients and their carers in the last months of life.
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Urinary tract infections, pressure areas, pneumonia and delirium are potentially preventable hospital-acquired complications.
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23% of the total global burden of disease is attributable to disorders in people aged 60 years and older.
Why it matters
This study describes the burden of disease in older people and notes that neurological and mental disorders contribute to that burden. It suggests that prevention targeting older people could reduce disease burden, but does not test any specific treatment or prevention for Alzheimer's.
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The use of videoconference technology to deliver health care diagnostics and treatment continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Why it matters
This study found that a brief battery of standard neuropsychological tests given by video teleconference produced results highly similar to in-person testing in adults with and without cognitive impairment. This is about a way to assess thinking and memory at a distance, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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There is increasing recognition of the importance of blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption in aging, dementia, stroke and multiple sclerosis in addition to more commonly-studied pathologies such as tumors.
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There is increasing evidence that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in individuals with unimpaired performance on cognitive tests may represent the first symptomatic manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Why it matters
This paper presents a conceptual framework and research criteria for studying subjective cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. It is a framework paper and does not directly address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Selective survival of men with a healthier cardiovascular risk profile and hence lower propensity to dementia might partly explain the higher LTR of dementia/AD in women.
Why it matters
Lifetime risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease at age 45 was 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 for men, while cumulative incidences were similar between sexes. The higher lifetime risk in women may be partly explained by selective survival of men with a healthier cardiovascular risk profile and thus lower propensity to dementia.
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This study sought to determine the prevalence and impact of pain in a nationally representative sample of older adults in the United States.
Why it matters
In a national survey, about half of older adults reported bothersome pain in the past month, and pain was strongly linked to worse physical function. This study is about pain and physical ability in older adults generally, not about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Delirium prolongs hospitalization for persons with dementia.
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Middle-aged HIV-infected adults have high fall risk.
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Although the majority of studies agreed that the Functional Assessment Staging 7c criterion was not a reliable predictor of 6-month mortality, we found a lack of prognosticator concordance across the literature.
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Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet is associated with a lower risk for mortality, cognitive decline, and dementia.
Why it matters
This longitudinal study found that higher adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet was associated with lower odds of developing frailty in community-dwelling older people. It notes that such a diet has been linked to lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but this study itself examined frailty, not dementia outcomes.
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Ultimately, we hope this project will provide the groundwork for future development of prevention and treatment strategies for delirium, designed to minimize the long term negative impact of delirium in older adults.
Why it matters
This paper describes the design of an ongoing study of older adults having elective major surgery, which aims to examine how delirium contributes to long-term cognitive and functional decline and to identify new risk markers. It reports no results yet, so it provides no information on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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.
- Smaller hippocampal volume in patients with recent-onset posttraumatic stress disorder
- The socio-economic determinants of COVID-19: A spatial analysis of German county level data
- Central Nervous System-Active Medication Use in Older Adults With and Without Dementia-A Retrospective Cohort Study
- Vitamin D, cognition, and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- The Association between the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern and Cognitive Health: A Systematic Review
- Nutrition Strategies Promoting Healthy Aging: From Improvement of Cardiovascular and Brain Health to Prevention of Age-Associated Diseases
- An Old Man's Love
- Extraskeletal effects of vitamin D in older adults: cardiovascular disease, mortality, mood, and cognition
- Donepezil in patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment: a randomised double-blind trial in CADASIL
- Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging in geriatric depression and primary degenerative dementia