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.
-
Women who underwent either unilateral or bilateral oophorectomy before the onset of menopause had an increased risk of cognitive impairment or dementia compared to referent women (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.46; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.90; adjusted for education, type of interview, and history of depression).
Why it matters
This study found that women who had unilateral or bilateral oophorectomy before menopause had an increased risk of cognitive impairment or dementia compared with referent women, with risk higher at younger age at surgery. It reports an association and does not establish a treatment or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
-
Persons with MCI also have impaired motor function, and the degree of impairment in lower extremity function is related to the risk of AD.
-
We included 134 consecutive bedridden end-stage dementia patients admitted during a 36-month period, and surviving in the ward for <6 months.
-
Dementia is associated with adverse outcomes among ESRD patients.
Why it matters
Among dialysis patients, about 4% had a recorded diagnosis of dementia, and dementia was associated with an increased risk of death after adjusting for other factors. This describes dementia in people with kidney failure and its outcomes; it does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
Those who viewed Caregiver's Friend: Dealing with Dementia 30 days postexposure demonstrated significant improvements in depression, anxiety, level and frequency of stress, caregiver strain, self-efficacy, and intention to seek help, as well as perceptions of positive aspects of caregiving.
Why it matters
This randomized trial found that an internet multimedia program for employed family caregivers of people with dementia significantly improved depression, anxiety, stress, caregiver strain, self-efficacy, and intention to seek help. It is about caregiver support and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
-
A larger WHR may be related to neurodegenerative, vascular, or metabolic processes that affect brain structures underlying cognitive decline and dementia.
-
Linking the ADAMS dementia clinical assessment data to the wealth of available longitudinal HRS data on health, health care utilization, informal care, and economic resources and behavior, will provide a unique opportunity to study the onset of CIND and dementia in a nationally representative population-based sample, as well as the risk factors, prevalence, outcomes, and costs of CIND and dementia.
Why it matters
This paper sets out how the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) works: 856 people aged 70 or older from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study had "an extensive in-home clinical and neuropsychological assessment" and were classed as normal, "cognitive impairment, not demented," or dementia, with subtypes such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The authors describe it as "the first population-based study of dementia in the United States to include subjects from all regions of the country" using "a single standardized diagnostic protocol," and say that linking it to survey data on health, care and finances will allow study of the prevalence, outcomes and costs of dementia. It is a design paper: it reports no results and tests no treatment.
-
The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is recommended to test for cognitive impairment and to monitor medication response.
Why it matters
This survey estimated how common cognitive impairment is among people aged 75 and over in the UK. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
-
60/100
MCI as an entity is evolving and somewhat controversial.
Why it matters
This 2005 paper introduced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a brief screening test, and compared it with the MMSE in 94 people with mild cognitive impairment, 93 with mild Alzheimer's and 90 healthy older adults. At a cutoff of 26, the MoCA picked up 90% of the MCI group (MMSE 18%) and all of the mild Alzheimer's group (MMSE 78%), but it also flagged more healthy people: specificity was 87% versus 100% for the MMSE. It is a screening test that signals who needs a fuller assessment, not a diagnosis, and the authors note that MCI itself is "evolving and somewhat controversial".
-
Consumption of up to three servings of wine daily is associated with a lower risk of AD in elderly individuals without the APOE epsilon-4 allele.
-
Prevalence of dementia was 8.3%.
Why it matters
In a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries, dementia was linked to higher Medicare expenditures, largely because of increased hospitalization. Further study is needed into the factors behind high hospitalization rates in dementia patients, including aspects of outpatient care that might be improved.
-
A meta-analysis of 27 primary studies was conducted to examine the relationship between neuropsychological functioning and driving ability for adults with dementia.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis of 27 studies found that when studies with a control group were included, the relationship between cognitive measures and driving measures was significant for all reported domains, with mean correlations from .35 to .65. When those studies were excluded, only visuospatial skills and mental status showed moderate correlations, and other effects were small or nonsignificant.
-
Twenty-two percent of the participants aged 75 years or older had MCI.
Why it matters
In this population study, the overall prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was 19% and rose with age, and the multiple-cognitive-deficit type was more common than the amnestic type. It describes how common a memory problem is and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention.
-
This meta-analysis pooled 84 studies comparing family caregivers to demographically similar non-caregivers on stress, depression, well-being, physical health, and self-efficacy.
Why it matters
Across 84 studies, family caregivers had higher depression and stress and lower well-being and self-efficacy than non-caregivers, with worse physical health showing only a small effect. Gaps were larger specifically for dementia caregivers than for other caregiver groups.
-
Each measure independently predicted a diagnosis of dementia.
Why it matters
In this multicentre cross-cultural study of 2885 people aged 60 and older in developing countries, an algorithm derived from three measures identified 94% of dementia cases with false-positive rates of 15%, 3% and 6% in the depression, high-education and low-education groups respectively. The study aimed to develop a culturally and educationally unbiased diagnostic instrument for dementia, so it concerns diagnosis rather than treatment, cure or prevention.
-
The goal of the present study was to assess the validity of the Medicare hospice eligibility guidelines for dementia patients, as well as identify predictors that could more accurately identify prognosis in dementia patients referred to hospice.
-
Why it matters
This study estimated the prevalence of frontotemporal dementia and other degenerative early-onset dementias in a defined population and found frontotemporal dementia to be a more common cause of early-onset dementia than previously recognized. It concerns prevalence and diagnosis only and reports no treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
Incidence of dementia in Italy paralleled that in most industrialized countries.
Why it matters
This Italian cohort study estimated incidence rates of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia, and found that women had a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease while men had a higher risk of vascular dementia. It describes who developed dementia and does not report any treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
Our prognostic index, which used 6 risk factors known at discharge and a simple additive point system to stratify medical patients 70 years or older according to 1-year mortality after hospitalization, had good discrimination and calibration and generalized well in an independent sample of patients at a different site.
Why it matters
This study developed and validated an index using factors such as male sex, dependence in daily activities, heart failure and cancer to predict one-year mortality in older adults after hospital discharge. It is about predicting death after hospitalization and has no bearing on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
-
There were insufficient data to make any recommendations regarding cognitive screening of asymptomatic individuals.
Why it matters
This 2001 American Academy of Neurology guideline, now marked retired, found "insufficient data to make any recommendations regarding cognitive screening of asymptomatic individuals." It did recommend "the evaluation and clinical monitoring of persons with mild cognitive impairment," because people with memory problems short of dementia were "at increased risk for developing dementia or AD" compared with others their age. It called tools such as the Mini-Mental State Examination useful for gauging how impaired someone is, recommended no treatment, and is no longer current guidance.
-
Median survival after the onset of dementia is much shorter than has previously been estimated.
Why it matters
Using Canadian Study of Health and Aging data, the unadjusted median survival after dementia onset was 6.6 years, but after adjustment for length bias the estimated median survival was 3.3 years. This is a survival estimate for dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and reports no treatment, cure, or prevention.
-
Elevated midlife blood pressures, and the resulting increased white matter hyperintensities, increase the risk for MCI in a group of community-dwelling older men to at least the same degree as apolipoprotein E4 genotype.
-
Although numerous studies of the longitudinal course of schizophrenia have demonstrated the clinical deterioration that occurs predominantly in the early stages of the illness, the pathophysiology of this clinical phenomenon has not been established.
-
60/100
The ACE is a brief and reliable bedside instrument for early detection of dementia, and offers a simple objective index to differentiate AD and FTD in mildly demented patients.
Why it matters
This 2000 memory-clinic study tested the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE), a 100-point bedside test covering six areas of thinking, in 139 new patients and 127 age- and education-matched comparison people. Using 88 as the cut-off, the ACE picked up 93% of people with dementia; at a cut-off of 83 the authors report higher sensitivity and predictive value than the Mini-Mental State Examination, and a ratio of language-and-fluency scores to memory-and-orientation scores helped tell Alzheimer's disease apart from frontotemporal dementia. The abstract does not report specificity, and the study is about diagnosis, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
-
Routine screening of cognition in older subjects with diabetes is recommended.
Why it matters
In a community study in Wales, 71% of 396 people aged 65+ with diabetes scored in the normal range (24 or more) on a standard memory and thinking test (MMSE), compared with 88% of age- and sex-matched people without diabetes (odds ratio 0.54). The authors report that these thinking problems went along with poorer diabetes self-care and greater dependency, and they recommend routine cognitive screening for older people with diabetes. This one-time comparison shows an association only. It does not show that diabetes causes dementia, and it tested no treatment.
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.
- Cognitive decline and dementia in diabetes--systematic overview of prospective observational studies
- Interventions That Support Lifestyle Behavior Change for Secondary Prevention of Stroke: A Scoping Review
- Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and risk of dementia in Parkinson's disease: a prospective study
- Agitation Severity and Psychotropic Prescription in Acute Patients With Delirium Superimposed on Dementia
- Semaglutide for obesity management: A narrative review of efficacy, safety, and future directions
- Physical Frailty, Genetic Predisposition, and Incident Parkinson Disease
- Patient- and Caregiver-Identified Goals for Advance Care Planning in Patients With Dementia or Cognitive Impairment
- The management of dementia worldwide: A review on policy practices, clinical guidelines, end-of-life care, and challenge along with aging population
- Life in Balance
- The beneficial effect on cognition of noninvasive brain stimulation intervention in patients with dementia: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials