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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The designed battery consists of six subtests exploring the following: conceptualization, mental flexibility, motor programming, sensitivity to interference, inhibitory control, and environmental autonomy.
Why it matters
This paper introduced the Frontal Assessment Battery, a roughly 10-minute bedside test with six parts covering abilities such as mental flexibility, inhibitory control and sensitivity to interference. It was tried in 42 healthy people and 121 patients with Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy or frontotemporal dementia, and scores tracked closely with an established dementia rating scale (rho = 0.82). No one in the study had Alzheimer's disease, so this paper alone does not show how well the test works in Alzheimer's.
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CIND is very frequent in older people.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional study found that stroke and heart failure were significantly associated with cognitive impairment without dementia, while education and smoking showed negative correlations. Because it is cross-sectional, it cannot show whether these factors cause cognitive impairment or dementia.
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On the basis of their findings in this large community population of elderly people, the authors conclude that a wide range of dementia-associated mental and behavioral disturbances afflict the majority of individuals with dementia.
Why it matters
In a community study of people aged 65 and over in Cache County, Utah, 61% of the 329 participants with dementia had at least one mental or behavioral disturbance in the past month, most often apathy (27%), depression (24%) and agitation/aggression (24%), and such disturbances were almost four times more common than in participants without dementia. Because of how often these symptoms occur and their effects on patients and caregivers, the authors conclude they "should be ascertained and treated in all cases of dementia." The study counted symptoms at one point in time; it did not test any treatment.
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Dementia is frequent after ischemic stroke, occurring in one-fourth of the elderly patients in the authors' cohort.
Why it matters
Three months after ischemic stroke, about 26% of patients had dementia, with vascular dementia being the most common subtype and Alzheimer disease with concomitant stroke in about one-third of cases. This describes what factors are associated with dementia after stroke; it does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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It has been suggested that the risk might be particularly increased for carriers of the APOE-epsilon4 allele.
Why it matters
This study investigated whether head trauma with loss of consciousness is related to the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in a prospective population-based cohort. It examines a possible risk factor but does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Contrary to previous reports, head trauma was not a risk factor for AD, and smoking did not protect against AD.
Why it matters
Pooling four European population-based prospective studies of people 65 and older (528 new dementia cases over 28,768 person-years), this study found that female gender, current smoking (more strongly in men) and low education (more strongly in women) were linked to a significantly higher risk of Alzheimer's disease, and that new cases reached 63.5 per 1,000 person-years at age 90 and over. Head trauma with unconsciousness and a family history of dementia did not significantly raise risk; the authors conclude that, contrary to earlier cross-sectional reports, head trauma was not a risk factor and smoking did not protect against Alzheimer's, while family history mattered less than previously estimated. These are associations from observational data, not tests of any treatment or prevention.
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Recent findings of a linkage between high blood pressure (BP) and later development of dementia have given new prospects on cerebral target-organ damage in hypertension and have added substance to the concept of "preventable senility."
Why it matters
In this group of men followed for 20 years, high blood pressure and related metabolic problems were linked to poorer cognitive function later in life. This shows an association and does not prove that treating blood pressure prevents cognitive decline.
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Dementia and subtypes Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia may be related to atrial fibrillation even if no clinical stokes have occurred.
Why it matters
In 6,584 older adults from the Rotterdam Study, people with atrial fibrillation were more likely to have dementia (age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio 2.3, 95% CI 1.4–3.7) and impaired cognition (1.7, 1.2–2.5). The strongest link was not with vascular dementia but with "Alzheimer's disease with cerebrovascular disease", and it was stronger in women and in the younger elderly. This was a one-time snapshot adjusted only for age and sex, so it shows the two conditions occur together, not that atrial fibrillation causes dementia or that treating it would prevent Alzheimer's.
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Although psychotropic drug use has been associated with increased risk of falls in long-term care settings; this association may be confounded by the high prevalence of dementia and depression and other fall risk factors.
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Among 251 patients examined 3 months after the onset of acute ischemic stroke, we diagnosed dementia in 66 (26.3%) by using modified DSM-III-R criteria based on neuropsychological, neurological, functional, and psychiatric examinations.
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Milacemide does not appear to be an effective treatment in enhancing cognition in SDAT patients.
Why it matters
In this trial of 228 patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, milacemide produced no significant improvement on any outcome measure, and four subjects had liver enzyme elevations large enough to require withdrawal. The authors conclude milacemide does not appear to be an effective treatment for enhancing cognition in these patients.
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Previous studies have suggested that education and race may affect performance on standardized mental status tests.
Why it matters
This study found that non-demented people with an 8th grade education or less scored significantly worse on the Mini-Mental State exam than those with more education, and that a quarter of the lower education group scored in a range traditionally thought to suggest dementia. It also found no consistently significant differences between black and white participants of equal education.
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One hundred and twenty-six patients diagnosed with Alzheimer-type dementia were selected from among 200 consecutive outpatients evaluated for suspected dementia from 1980 to 1982.
Why it matters
This study followed 126 outpatients diagnosed with Alzheimer-type dementia for at least 6 years to examine survival and factors that might influence it. It describes the clinical course and survival of people with the disease, not how to treat, cure or prevent it.
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The analytic sample included 1 054 926 beneficiaries, including 219 942 (mean [SD] age, 75.3 [6.3] years; 54.6% female) who developed new complex conditions in 2019 and 834 984 (mean [SD] age, 73.8 [5.6] years; 56.7% female) who did not develop a new complex condition in 2019.
Why it matters
This study examined whether developing new complex medical conditions was linked to disenrollment from Medicare Advantage. It is about insurance coverage decisions rather than treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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In this study's cohort of 155 individuals with SETRS (mean [SD] age, 59.3 [10.3] years; 56 female participants [36.1%]), 153 of 155 (98.7%) scored below the cutoff of 26 for mild cognitive impairment, and 73 of 155 (47.1%) scored below the cutoff of 10 for severe dementia (mean [SD] MoCA score, 9.8 [6.4]).
Why it matters
In this cohort of 155 individuals with severe schizophrenia, most scored below cutoffs for mild cognitive impairment or severe dementia, and their cognitive pattern differed from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. The study found no evidence that comorbid Alzheimer's disease or cardiovascular risk factors explained the impairment, and it does not address treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Among 2157 older adults without dementia (mean [SD] age 71.2 [9.2] years; 1337 female [62.0%]), 1680 participants had longitudinal cognition data and 569 participants (26.4%) had APOE34/44 genotypes.
Why it matters
In this cohort, higher total meat consumption was linked to better cognitive trajectories and lower dementia risk only among people with APOE34/44 genotypes, with no such associations in other APOE genotypes. A higher ratio of processed to total meat was unfavorably associated with dementia regardless of APOE, and the authors note these are observational findings.
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Peer support interventions suggest beneficial short-term effects on specific caregiver outcomes but lack long-term sustainability.
Why it matters
Across 11 randomized trials of 1,680 caregivers, peer support reduced distress from behavioral symptoms and increased social support and health-related quality of life. However, it showed no significant effects on depression, anxiety, loneliness, caregiving burden, or caregiving competence.
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One hundred sixteen participants consented and 93 (46 waitlist control, 47 intervention) were included in the analyses.
Why it matters
In this randomized trial of multilingual dementia carers, the Draw-Care program showed no significant effect on carer burden or mood. It did improve scores on one quality-of-life measure, but the trial fell short of its recruitment target, so the results should be viewed with caution.
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The telmisartan group had the lowest risk of all dementias (telmisartan vs NT-ARB: hazard ratio [HR]: 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.60 to 1.01; telmisartan vs angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor: HR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.94).
Why it matters
Among people with hypertension, those taking telmisartan had marginally lower risks of all dementias and strokes than those taking other renin-angiotensin system inhibitors. The authors describe this as a possible association rather than a proven protective effect.
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Zinc deficiency represents an independent, modifiable risk factor for new-onset dementia with a clear dose-response relationship.
Why it matters
This retrospective cohort study found that zinc deficiency was associated with a 34% increased risk of new-onset dementia, while cognitive impairment showed no significant association in the primary analysis. It reports an association and does not show that correcting zinc deficiency prevents dementia.
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59/100
Non-specific codes were most common. Alzheimer's and vascular dementia codes showed high regional variability.
Why it matters
This study of Medicare hospitalization data found that non-specific dementia codes were most common and that documentation often shifted from specific to non-specific codes over time, a pattern the authors call diagnostic signal decay. The authors say much of this variation reflects inconsistent diagnostic practices rather than true disease differences, so it has implications for research data quality, not for treating, curing, or preventing dementia.
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BackgroundAccurate and accessible risk assessment tools are essential for effective dementia management.
Why it matters
Adding resting heart rate to an existing dementia risk model modestly but significantly improved how well the model predicted 3-year dementia risk in a large Canadian cohort. This is a risk prediction tool, not a treatment, cure, or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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Improving digital technology for caregivers requires studies with larger populations and longitudinal outcomes.
Why it matters
In this 6-month exploratory trial, both online platforms improved caregiver burden, but GamePlan4Care was not superior to Resources4Care. The authors note that larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to improve digital support for caregivers.
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These include segmental colitis associated with diverticulitis, colorectal cancer, radiation proctitis, ischemic and infectious colitis, as well as NSAID-induced enterocolitis (6,7).
Why it matters
This review describes how older adults with inflammatory bowel disease differ from younger patients in symptoms and disease location, and notes they are less likely to receive steroid-sparing therapy. It does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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In 2018, Carlos et al. [2] reviewed 21 studies from the SUN project that focused on the association between the MDP and several incident chronic diseases, concluding that high Mediterranean diet adherence was associated with a lower incidence of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, depression, cognitive decline, and nephrolithiasis, and with a lower heart rate and mitigation of the effects of obesity on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes, and our results suggested that the Mediterranean diet may improve fertility.
Why it matters
This cohort profile update describes the SUN study and notes that earlier reviews linked high Mediterranean diet adherence to lower incidence of several chronic diseases including cognitive decline. It is an observational cohort and does not test a treatment or cure for Alzheimer's disease.
From across this topic
9 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 9. The same 9 appear here every time.
- Impact of special care unit for patients with advanced Alzheimer's disease on patients' discomfort and costs
- Global incidence trends and projections of Alzheimer disease and other dementias: an age-period-cohort analysis 2021
- Parkinson disease and cognitive impairment: Five new things
- The challenge of opt-outs from NHS data: a small-area perspective
- Accuracy of the Mini-Mental Status Examination as a screening test for dementia in a Swedish elderly population
- Consensus guidelines for the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB): report of the Consortium on DLB International Workshop
- ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VIOLENT CRIME INCIDENT PROXIMITY AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
- Memantine for dementia
- Real‐world prediction of early‐onset dementia by health record data: A multi‐center machine learning study