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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Larger gains in rural adults' cognitive functioning between 2000 and 2010 that are linked with increased educational attainment demonstrate long-term public health benefits of investment in secondary education.
Why it matters
In 2000, rural older adults had a higher risk of dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia than urban adults, but by 2010 this gap was no longer statistically significant before adjustment. After adjusting for sociodemographic and health factors, rural disadvantages for dementia and cognitive impairment persisted in both periods.
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Long-term SSRI treatment may delay progression from MCI to Alzheimer's dementia.
Why it matters
In people with mild cognitive impairment and a history of depression, long-term SSRI treatment was associated with a delay in progression to Alzheimer's dementia of about 3 years. No differences in CSF biomarker levels were seen between treatment groups, and the authors say long-term SSRI treatment may delay progression, which is not the same as curing or preventing the disease.
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Age and gender were observed to be associated with MCI, in which age was considered as an impact factor for DR. The strong heterogeneity may result from variations in study design and baselines.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis of PubMed and Embase studies estimated an adjusted MCI prevalence of 16%. Among people with MCI, 45% stayed stable, 15% returned to normal, 34% progressed to dementia and 28% to Alzheimer's disease. Progression to dementia and Alzheimer's was lower in community samples than in clinic samples, while stability and reversion were higher. The authors say the studies varied a lot and call for standardized MCI criteria, so these are pooled averages, not personal risks, and the study tests no treatment.
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Among 1084 patients who completed the questionnaire, 415 (38.3%) had heard about ACP/ADs.
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The association between gait slowing and cognitive impairment is supported by a shared neural substrate that includes a smaller right hippocampus.
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Here, we present new criteria aimed to optimize early, sensitive, and specific clinical diagnosis of PSP on the basis of currently available evidence. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Why it matters
Presents revised clinical diagnostic criteria for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), built from a literature review, data from patients with autopsy-confirmed PSP, and rounds of expert consensus. The criteria use four clinical domains (ocular motor dysfunction, postural instability, akinesia, and cognitive dysfunction) and three levels of certainty: probable, possible, and suggestive of PSP.
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59/100
HI is associated with increased risk of developing dementia in older adults.
Why it matters
In this cohort of older adults, moderate/severe hearing impairment was associated with an increased risk of incident dementia over 9 years. The authors conclude that hearing impairment is associated with increased risk of developing dementia in older adults.
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Patients continue to receive medications that are not prescribed as symptomatic treatment despite having a LLE.
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59/100
Early PD-MCI, regardless of persistence or reversion to normal cognition, has prognostic value for predicting dementia in patients with PD.
Why it matters
In this 5-year population-based study of patients with Parkinson disease, 39.1% of those with baseline or incident mild cognitive impairment progressed to dementia, and early mild cognitive impairment predicted dementia regardless of persistence or reversion to normal cognition. This describes the natural course of cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease and does not test any treatment.
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Such complex needs require an integrated response from general health professionals and multidisciplinary dementia specialists.
Why it matters
This large cross-sectional analysis found that people with dementia had more physical conditions and more repeat prescriptions than those without dementia. It describes health needs in dementia but does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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The average CHADS2 score was 3.3 ± 1.3. After a diagnosis of dementia, 405 individuals (16%) persisted on warfarin therapy.
Why it matters
This study found that continuing warfarin after a dementia diagnosis in veterans with atrial fibrillation was associated with lower risk of stroke and mortality. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease, and it suggests discontinuing warfarin after dementia diagnosis is associated with increased stroke and mortality.
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As the physiological impact of chronic stress is difficult to study in humans, naturalistic stressors are invaluable sources of information in this area.
Why it matters
This review found that cortisol was increased in a majority of studies of informal dementia caregivers, and caregivers performed more poorly on attention and executive functioning tests. Interventions to reduce stress improved cognition but had mixed effects on cortisol, and the review does not test a cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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59/100
Continuing evaluation of DAs in routine practice to support advance care planning is worth exploring further.
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When compared to usual care, the practice guideline for optimal symptom relief did not relieve discomfort and symptoms in nursing home residents with dementia and pneumonia.
Why it matters
In this cluster randomized trial of 464 pneumonia episodes in nursing home residents with dementia, a practice guideline for symptom relief did not reduce discomfort or symptoms compared with usual care. This means the guideline did not achieve its goal of improving comfort in this situation.
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Among 57 753 decedents, approximately half of the patients with ESRD, cardiopulmonary failure, or frailty received palliative care consultations (adjusted proportions, 50.4%, 46.7%, and 43.7%, respectively) vs 73.5% of patients with cancer and 61.4% of patients with dementia (P Conclusions and relevance Family-reported quality of end-of-life care was significantly better for patients with cancer and those with dementia than for patients with ESRD, cardiopulmonary failure, or frailty, largely owing to higher rates of palliative care consultation and do-not-resuscitate orders and fewer deaths in the intensive care unit among patients with cancer and those with dementia.
Why it matters
This study compared end-of-life care patterns and family-rated quality of care for patients dying with different serious illnesses, including dementia. It found that increasing access to palliative care and goals of care discussions may improve end-of-life care, particularly for patients with end-organ failure and frailty.
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59/100
This study is the first to document concurrent prevalence of primary dementia subtypes among this US population.
Why it matters
Among 21.6 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, 14.4% had a claim for any dementia subtype, with Alzheimer's the most common subtype at 43.5%. This is a count of diagnosed cases and provides no information on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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59/100
Dramatic global increases in future numbers of people with dementia have been predicted.
Why it matters
Two samples of people aged 65+ in the same three areas of England and Wales, taken in 1989–1994 and 2008–2011 using the same methods, found a 20% drop in age-specific dementia incidence (95% CI 0–40%, so the true change could be close to zero), "driven by a reduction in men across all ages above 65." Because individual risk fell, the authors estimate that the number of new cases each year "has remained relatively stable" (about 209,600 a year across the UK) rather than rising as predicted. This is an observational comparison over time: it does not identify why incidence fell and is not evidence for any treatment or prevention measure.
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The proportion of people dying at home fell during our survey.
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Our results provide additional evidence that depressive symptoms determine an additive risk effect to the progression to dementia in subjects with MCI.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis of 18 studies found that people with mild cognitive impairment who also have depressive symptoms are at higher risk of progressing to dementia. The authors say the combination of depression and cognitive impairment could be a target for preventing dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment.
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The objective of the study was to examine variability across multiple prospective cohort studies in level and rate of cognitive decline by race/ethnicity and years of education.
Why it matters
Across four cohort studies, differences in race and education were linked to differences in cognitive test scores at the start, but these factors were not consistently linked to the rate of cognitive decline over time. When a link to decline was present, it was small.
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59/100
Frontotemporal dementia is an umbrella clinical term that encompasses a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterised by progressive deficits in behaviour, executive function, or language.
Why it matters
This review discusses frontotemporal dementia, a different type of dementia, including its diagnosis and emerging therapies. It does not address Alzheimer's disease treatment, cure, or prevention.
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59/100
Vascular dementia is one of the most common causes of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, causing around 15% of cases.
Why it matters
This review states that vascular dementia causes around 15% of dementia cases and that, unlike Alzheimer's disease, there are no licensed treatments for it. It discusses uncertainties in classification and diagnosis and the lack of identifiable treatment targets, reporting no treatment, cure or prevention.
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59/100
The rate of cognitive change in elderly persons with and without diabetes mellitus is similar, although cognitive performance is poorer in persons with diabetes mellitus.
Why it matters
This prospective cohort study found that people with diabetes had poorer cognitive performance at baseline but no difference in rate of cognitive change over time compared with those without diabetes. It suggests diabetes is linked to lower cognitive function but does not show that treating diabetes prevents or cures Alzheimer's disease.
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59/100
International hospital-based studies have indicated a high risk of cognitive impairment after stroke, evidence from community-based studies in China is scarce.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional study in China found a high prevalence of post-stroke cognitive impairment among stroke survivors. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Our results provide evidence of the potential of Souvenaid™ therapy for the treatment of behavioral disturbances and social cognition skills in FTD.
Why it matters
In twenty-six people with the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia, the nutritional drink Souvenaid was linked to fewer behavioural symptoms and better social understanding (Theory of Mind) than placebo over 12 weeks, effects that faded when it was stopped. It did not help planning and reasoning skills. This proof-of-concept study concerns frontotemporal dementia, not Alzheimer's, and the authors frame it as evidence of potential rather than an established 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 training gain transfer in cognitively healthy aging: per protocol results of the German AgeGain study
- Pain Assessment and Management in Dementia Care: Qualitative Perspectives of People With Dementia, Their Families, and Healthcare Professionals
- Time to redefine PD? Introductory statement of the MDS Task Force on the definition of Parkinson's disease
- Use of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors, Angiotensin Receptor Blockers, and Risk of Dementia in Heart Failure
- CLOX: an executive clock drawing task
- Evidence of increased oxidative damage in subjects with mild cognitive impairment
- Dementia and cognitive impairment: epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment
- Population Surveillance of Dementia Mortality
- Mortality and cause of death in hip fracture patients aged 65 or older: a population-based study
- Cardiovascular risk factors and accelerated cognitive decline in midlife: The CARDIA Study