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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Only 11 putative risk factors for delirium are supported by either strong or moderate level of evidence.
Why it matters
This review found strong evidence that dementia is a risk factor for delirium in intensive care patients, along with age, high blood pressure, mechanical ventilation, and other factors. It is about delirium in the ICU, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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The results of this review highlight the significant economic burden of dementia for patients, families and healthcare systems and thus are important for future health policy planning.
Why it matters
This systematic review of 27 cost-of-illness studies found that the main cost drivers of dementia are informal costs from home-based long-term care and nursing home expenditures, rather than direct medical costs. This describes the economic burden of dementia and does not address treating, curing, or preventing the disease.
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Surprisingly, fallers and non-fallers did not differ on any conventional assessment (p = 0.069-0.991), except for 'previous faller' (p = 0.006).
Why it matters
In 77 people with dementia, certain sensor-derived walking parameters differed between those who fell and those who did not over three months, while conventional assessments mostly did not differ. This is about predicting falls, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Although levodopa is the most effective medication available for treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease, in certain instances (eg, mild symptoms, tremor as the only or most prominent symptom, aged Conclusions and relevance Strong evidence supports using levodopa and dopamine agonists for motor symptoms at all stages of Parkinson disease.
Why it matters
This review of Parkinson disease treatment states that no available therapies alter the underlying neurodegenerative process, though symptomatic therapies can improve quality of life. It concerns Parkinson's disease, not treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Controlling for pretest, the benefit-finding group had lower depression than the psychoeducation group at post-test, despite the fact that some caregivers found benefit-finding challenging.
Why it matters
In a small randomized trial of 25 Alzheimer caregivers, the benefit-finding group had lower depression than the psychoeducation group after treatment, while the groups did not differ on overload and burden. This is about supporting caregivers, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease in patients.
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Since its opening in 2000, patient care and research go hand in hand at the Alzheimer center of the VU University Medical Center, both organized in such a way that they mutually strengthen each other.
Why it matters
This paper describes the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort, which combines patient care and research and includes over 4000 patients with data such as MRI, EEG, blood, DNA, and CSF. It is a research infrastructure and does not itself report a treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Cognitive changes in normal individuals who will subsequently decline may be observed at least 6.5 years prior to symptom onset.
Why it matters
Cognitive test scores declined before clinical symptoms appeared, in some cases at least 6.5 years before onset, and risk of decline was doubled in people with an ApoE-4 allele. This is about early detection and risk, not about treating, curing, or preventing the disease.
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59/100
(1) outlook in PD is heterogeneous, with most dying or developing dementia or postural instability by 10 years from diagnosis, but a quarter still doing well, with preserved mobility and intact cognition; (2) death is not directly related to PD in the majority; (3) baseline clinical and genetic variables are predictive of outcome and may be helpful in selecting patients for clinical trials.
Why it matters
This 10-year follow-up of an incident Parkinson's disease cohort found that 55% had died, 68% had postural instability, and 46% had dementia, with only 23% having a good outcome. It identifies age, motor impairment, posterior-cortical cognitive deficits, and MAPT genotype as baseline predictors of dementia, but does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Higher midlife fitness levels seem to be associated with lower hazards of developing all-cause dementia later in life.
Why it matters
In this cohort of nearly 19,500 adults followed for a median of 25 years, those in the highest quintile of midlife cardiorespiratory fitness had a lower hazard of all-cause dementia than those in the lowest quintile. The authors note the study measured fitness levels, so a specific exercise prescription cannot be generated from the results.
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The design decisions made for ADMET are important elements to be considered in trials assessing the safety and efficacy of medications for clinically significant apathy in Alzheimer disease.
Why it matters
This paper describes the design of a trial to test methylphenidate for apathy in Alzheimer disease, not the results of that trial. It does not yet show whether methylphenidate helps treat apathy.
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Ascertainment of the -synuclein level in CSF somewhat improves the differential diagnosis of AD vs DLB and PDD when combined with established AD biomarkers.
Why it matters
In 453 spinal-fluid samples from neurology and memory clinics, a panel of five markers separated Alzheimer's disease from dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia with an area under the curve of 0.90, with α-synuclein and total tau contributing most. Neurofilament light was substantially raised in progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy and corticobasal degeneration, and on its own distinguished Parkinson's disease from these atypical disorders. The study was cross-sectional and compared against clinical diagnosis, so it shows how well the markers separate groups, not a definite diagnosis for an individual, and it tested no treatment.
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The extent to which specific factors influence diagnostic delays in dementia is unclear.
Why it matters
This study compared how long it took to diagnose young-onset versus late-onset dementia and examined factors affecting that delay. It is about diagnosis timing and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention.
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Few teeth without dentures and absence of a regular dentist, not poor mastication and poor attitudes toward dental health, were associated with higher risk of dementia onset in the older Japanese cohort even after adjustment for available covariates.
Why it matters
In this cohort of 4425 older Japanese adults, having few teeth without dentures and not having a regular dentist were associated with higher risk of dementia onset. This shows associations only and does not show that dental care prevents or treats Alzheimer's disease.
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The role of atrial fibrillation in cognitive impairment and dementia, independent of stroke, is uncertain.
Why it matters
In a post-hoc analysis of two large trials of 31,546 patients at high cardiovascular risk, atrial fibrillation was associated with a higher risk of cognitive and functional decline. This shows an association only and does not show that treating atrial fibrillation prevents Alzheimer's disease.
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59/100
This text describes FreeSurfer, an open-source suite of tools for neuroimaging data analysis.
Why it matters
FreeSurfer is a free, open-source software suite that automatically builds models of brain structures from standard T1-weighted MRI scans. It is a measurement tool that many brain-imaging studies rely on, not a study of a treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's.
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59/100
Baseline CSF was collected from 512 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and 272 patients with other types of dementia (OD), 135 patients with a psychiatric disorder (PSY), and 275 patients with subjective memory complaints (SMC).
Why it matters
This study measured amyloid-beta 42, total tau, and phosphorylated tau in cerebrospinal fluid from a large memory clinic cohort to see how these markers behave across different types of dementia. It found that a combination of amyloid-beta 42 and phosphorylated tau correctly classified 92% of Alzheimer patients and 66% of those with other dementias, which is a diagnostic result only.
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The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) were significantly higher in subjects with diabetes than in those with normal glucose tolerance.
Why it matters
In 1,017 dementia-free adults aged 60 and over who took a 75-g glucose tolerance test and were followed for 15 years, people with diabetes had a higher adjusted risk of all-cause dementia (HR 1.74) and Alzheimer disease (HR 2.05). The link to vascular dementia was not statistically significant. Higher blood sugar two hours after the glucose drink tracked with higher dementia risk, but fasting blood sugar did not. This is an observational risk-factor study: it does not show that diabetes causes dementia or that treating blood sugar prevents it.
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Individuals with AD and VaD have higher Hct levels than controls; however, a causal relationship between high-Hct level and risk of developing dementia is not supported.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis of 17 studies with 6,122 participants found that homocysteine was significantly elevated in Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia compared with controls, but high homocysteine level was not associated with risk of developing dementia or cognitive decline. The authors note significant heterogeneity across studies.
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Support groups benefit caregivers and findings of this meta-analysis serve as immediate guidance for group facilitators.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis of 30 controlled trials found that support groups had a significant positive effect on caregivers' psychological well-being, depression, burden and social outcomes. It is about support for caregivers and does not test any treatment or cure for dementia itself.
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Homocysteine lowering in dementia patients did not significantly reduce global cognitive decline.
Why it matters
In a 24-month placebo-controlled trial of 140 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia, daily methylcobalamin (1 mg) plus folic acid (5 mg) lowered blood homocysteine from about 14.1 to 9.3 μmol/L but produced "no significant group difference in changes in any of the neuropsychological scores." The only signal was a subgroup finding: among people with homocysteine above 13 μmol/L, decline in one MDRS domain (construction) was smaller on supplements (median 0 vs 2 points). The authors conclude that homocysteine lowering "did not significantly reduce global cognitive decline" in people who already have dementia.
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In later adulthood brain pathology becomes common and trajectories of cognitive change are heterogeneous.
Why it matters
This article presents and investigates a novel method for measuring cognitive reserve based on the decomposition of episodic memory variance. It is a methodological study of how reserve may buffer the impact of brain pathology and does not test a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Despite evidence of ethnic differences in family caregivers' experiences, the extent to which caregiver interventions are culturally tailored to address these differences is unknown.
Why it matters
Reviewing caregiver research from 1980 to 2009 on African American, Latino and Chinese American family caregivers, this study found ethnic differences in many areas of caregiving, from coping and social support to family duty and use of health services. Yet only 18 of 47 intervention studies reported results by ethnicity, and only 11 described cultural tailoring (8 of them from the REACH program), mostly around family values, language, literacy and practical barriers. The authors conclude that more studies are needed to test systematically whether tailoring helps; the review does not address treating or preventing Alzheimer's itself.
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APs appear to increase the risk of hip fracture among older adults with dementia residing in an NH.
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Earlier NH admission of Australian compared to U.K. and U.S. subjects may be due to differences in health care, NH systems, availability, and affordability.
Why it matters
This trial found that counseling spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease did not delay nursing home placement or death compared with usual care. It does not show any effect on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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David Moher and colleagues introduce PRISMA.
Why it matters
Describes the PRISMA statement, a list of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses; it is not about Alzheimer's specifically.
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.
- Psychiatric and physical morbidity effects of dementia caregiving: prevalence, correlates, and causes
- Machine Learning to Develop and Internally Validate a Predictive Model for Post-operative Delirium in a Prospective, Observational Clinical Cohort Study of Older Surgical Patients
- Cerebrospinal fluid cortisol and clinical disease progression in MCI and dementia of Alzheimer's type
- Sleep problems and risk of all-cause cognitive decline or dementia: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis
- Hospice care in the nursing home setting: a review of the literature
- Mild cognitive impairment and its management in older people
- Cumulative use of strong anticholinergics and incident dementia: a prospective cohort study
- Invariance of Extreme Hydrologic Events and Climate Change in the Risk Reduction on Environment and Health
- The prevention of dementia with antihypertensive treatment: new evidence from the Systolic Hypertension in Europe (Syst-Eur) study
- Vitamin and mineral supplementation for preventing dementia or delaying cognitive decline in people with mild cognitive impairment