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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Loss of motor function is a common consequence of aging, but little is known about the factors that predict idiopathic motor decline.
Why it matters
In this longitudinal cohort of 906 older adults without stroke, Parkinson disease or dementia, the study tested whether late-life social activity was related to the rate of change in motor function over about 4.9 years. It addresses motor decline in aging, not the treatment, cure or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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Six thousand thirty community-dwelling persons aged 65 to 95.
Why it matters
This study examined whether adding cognitive impairment to a frailty definition improves prediction of adverse health outcomes in community-dwelling older persons. It concerns risk prediction, not treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Optimal ranges of CDR-SOB scores corresponding to the global CDR scores were 0.5 to 4.0 for a global score of 0.5, 4.5 to 9.0 for a global score of 1.0, 9.5 to 15.5 for a global score of 2.0, and 16.0 to 18.0 for a global score of 3.0.
Why it matters
In 1,577 people from a Texas research consortium (110 controls, 202 with mild cognitive impairment and 1,265 with probable Alzheimer disease), this retrospective study matched Clinical Dementia Rating "sum of boxes" (CDR-SOB) scores to the overall CDR stage: 0.5–4.0 for stage 0.5, 4.5–9.0 for stage 1, 9.5–15.5 for stage 2 and 16.0–18.0 for stage 3. The ranges were set in one part of the sample and tested in another, where agreement was high (kappa 0.86 to 0.94). The authors say the sum score's wider range makes it more useful for tracking change within and between stages. The study is about reading a rating scale, not about treatment.
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Older patients with a college education who present with complaints of cognitive decline (reported by themselves or others) and score less than 27 on the MMSE are at a greater risk of being diagnosed with dementia and should be referred for a comprehensive dementia evaluation, including formal neuropsychological testing.
Why it matters
This study found that in highly educated older adults, a higher Mini-Mental State Examination cut score gave a better balance of sensitivity and specificity for detecting dementia. It is about improving diagnosis and does not address treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Strengths of the study are that the subjects were randomly selected from a defined population, the majority of the subjects were examined in person, and MCI was defined using published criteria.
Why it matters
This paper reports the design, sampling, and baseline characteristics of a population-based cohort study established to investigate the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. It describes study methods and reports no treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Using established clinical diagnostic standards for dementia the overall rate on routine outpatient neurological care is 28.6%, but using more sensitive neuropsychological measures, rates for cognitive impairment might be up to 2-fold higher.
Why it matters
In 873 Parkinson's disease outpatients seen at 315 neurology practices in Germany, 28.6% met clinical (DSM-IV) criteria for dementia, but the share flagged with cognitive impairment ranged from 17.5% on the MMSE to 41.8% on clock drawing and 43.6% on the Parkinson-specific PANDA test. The authors report that the MMSE "revealed strikingly low sensitivity", so a normal MMSE score in someone with Parkinson's may miss thinking problems that other tests pick up. These figures come from a single snapshot of outpatients and depend on the test used, so they are not a fixed rate for everyone with Parkinson's.
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At baseline and at follow-up MCI-AD showed higher levels P-tau(231), T-tau, IP, P-tau(231)/Abeta(42/40) and T-tau/Abeta(42/40) ratios and lower Abeta(42)/Abeta(40) than MCI-MCI or NL-NL.
Why it matters
This longitudinal study measured five cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in people with mild cognitive impairment over two years. It found that P-tau(231) was the strongest predictor of decline from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease, and the authors suggest these biomarkers could be used in prevention trials.
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58/100
Both cognitive impairment, no dementia and mild cognitive impairment are frequent in the Italian elderly (2,955,000 prevalent cases expected) and significantly predict progression to dementia.
Why it matters
This longitudinal study in Italian elderly people estimated the frequency of cognitive impairment, no dementia and mild cognitive impairment, and their progression to dementia. It found that both conditions significantly predicted progression to dementia, and that previous stroke and impairment in daily activities increased the risk.
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For more than a decade, researchers have refined criteria for the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and at the same time have recognized that cognitive impairment and dementia occur commonly in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).
Why it matters
This consensus paper discusses the relationship between dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's disease with dementia, and calls for research into alpha-synuclein. It concerns Lewy body disorders rather than the treatment, cure or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
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58/100
The authors used mixed-effects growth models to examine longitudinal change in neuropsychological performance over a 4-year period among 197 individuals who were either normal or had mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at baseline.
Why it matters
Over 4 years, researchers followed 197 people who started out with normal thinking or mild cognitive impairment; 47 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease during that time. Among the thinking skills tested, only episodic memory (remembering recent events) fell faster in those who went on to Alzheimer's. Their planning/reasoning and general-knowledge scores were already lower at the start but did not drop faster. The study tracks test scores in groups; it does not test any treatment and cannot predict an individual's outcome.
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The authors included 772 patients (53% men, age 66 +/- 11).
Why it matters
Among 772 memory clinic patients, 17% had at least one microbleed, and prevalence differed by diagnosis, with a relatively high proportion in Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. The authors say this provides further evidence for vascular factors in neurodegenerative diseases, but it does not offer a treatment or cure.
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In our study, TSH was related neither to risk of AD nor with early MRI markers thereof, arguing against an important role of thyroid function in the development of AD.
Why it matters
In this population-based cohort of 1,025 elderly people followed for a mean of 5.5 years, thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroid hormones were not associated with risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, though higher free T4 was linked to more hippocampal and amygdalar atrophy in non-demented subjects. The study found no link between thyroid function and dementia risk and does not support any treatment or prevention based on thyroid hormones.
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Although cross-sectional studies found an association between anaemia and dementia, longitudinal studies provided contradictory results.
Why it matters
In 1,435 Stockholm residents aged 75–95 without dementia, those with anaemia at the start (haemoglobin below 130 g/L in men, 120 g/L in women, by WHO criteria) developed dementia at about 1.6 times the rate of others over 3 years (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.4). Among the 1,139 with good baseline cognition, the link was stronger and held after accounting for chronic disease, inflammation and nutrition. This is an observational association: the authors' idea that low oxygen to the brain explains it was not tested, and no treatment was studied.
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These data confirm the presence of cognitive impairment in 50% of patients with ALS and particularly implicate executive dysfunction and mild memory decline in the disease process.
Why it matters
This study examined cognitive impairment in people with sporadic ALS and found that many had cognitive changes, with some meeting criteria for frontotemporal dementia. It is about cognitive changes in ALS, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Cerebral blood flow (CBF) velocity is decreased in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
This study examined whether reduced blood flow in the brain is linked to dementia and early markers of dementia in 1,730 older participants. It addresses the question of whether poor blood flow contributes to dementia or is simply a result of brain degeneration, which matters for understanding causes but does not test a treatment.
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Better knowledge of the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease would be an important advance to allow earlier treatment of this ominous disease.
Why it matters
This population-based study found that people who later developed Alzheimer's disease already had lower cognitive test scores 9 years before diagnosis, with faster decline about 3 years before diagnosis. It describes the preclinical course of the disease and does not test any treatment or prevention.
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58/100
Physicians noted impairment in a minority of impaired patients.
Why it matters
This survey found that many older primary care patients had low Mini-Mental State Examination scores, but physicians documented memory loss, dementia or mental status testing in only a minority of them. It points to gaps in detection and management of cognitive impairment in primary care.
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The term frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses a range of clinical syndromes that are believed not to map reliably onto the spectrum of recognized pathologies.
Why it matters
In 61 people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from two centres, this study compared how the illness showed up in life with what their brain tissue showed. For behavioural-variant FTD (26) and semantic dementia (9), symptoms did not point to one type of brain change. Motor neuron disease, parkinsonism with apraxia, and nonfluent aphasia did each point to one type. The authors say this matters for designing trials of treatments aimed at specific disease processes. This is a study of FTD, not Alzheimer's or Lewy body disease, and it tested no treatment.
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This systematic review of the literature focuses on the influence of ethnic, cultural, and geographic factors on the caregivers of patients with dementia.
Why it matters
This review found that behavioral disturbances in patients with dementia increase caregiver burden, that female caregivers bear a particularly heavy burden across cultures, and that interventions to reduce caregiver burden have been largely unsuccessful. It also found that pharmacological treatments for dementia symptoms were beneficial in reducing caregiver burden, but it does not address curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Although most falls do not result in injury, the fact that residents with dementia fall more often than their counterparts without dementia leaves them with a higher overall risk of sustaining injurious falls over time.
Why it matters
Among 2,015 newly admitted nursing home residents, those with dementia fell more often than those without, and dementia was found to be an independent risk factor for falling. The authors conclude that residents with dementia should be considered important candidates for fall-prevention and fall-injury-prevention strategies.
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Study selection The authors developed eight key questions representing a logical chain between screening and improved health outcomes, along with eligibility criteria for admissible evidence for each question.
Why it matters
Screening tests can find some people with undiagnosed dementia, but no randomized trial of screening for dementia has been completed. In people whose mild to moderate Alzheimer disease is already clinically detected, cholinesterase inhibitors are somewhat effective at slowing cognitive decline, but whether these or other treatments help people found through screening is uncertain.
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Cerebrovascular disease is the second most common cause of acquired cognitive impairment and dementia and contributes to cognitive decline in the neurodegenerative dementias.
Why it matters
This 2003 review proposes the term "vascular cognitive impairment" and argues that narrow definitions of vascular dementia should be broadened, because cerebrovascular disease also contributes to cognitive decline in other dementias, including Alzheimer's disease. It describes a typical profile of preserved memory with problems in attention and executive function, and lists depression, apathy and psychosis as important non-cognitive features. The authors say the diagnostic criteria still need validating and that treatment trials were "in their infancy"; the review reports no new data and no cure or prevention.
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Inflammatory responses are associated with cardiovascular disease and may be associated with dementing disease.
Why it matters
In this long-term follow-up, men with higher levels of a general inflammation marker had about three times the risk of all dementias combined, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. This is observational evidence linking inflammation to dementia risk, not a treatment or prevention.
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Recent findings suggest that a rich social network may decrease the risk of developing dementia.
Why it matters
In a population-based study of older adults in central Stockholm (the Kungsholmen Project, 1987–1996), people who took part daily or weekly in mental, social or productive activities were later diagnosed with dementia less often: adjusted relative risks were 0.54, 0.58 and 0.58 respectively, after accounting for age, sex, education, baseline thinking ability, other illnesses, depressive symptoms and physical functioning. The authors conclude that stimulating activity "may protect against dementia", but this is an observational association, not proof that taking up activities prevents dementia, and the record does not report how many people were studied.
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Our goal was to determine the patient and caregiver characteristics associated with the reduction of employment hours in caregivers of frail elders.
Why it matters
This study found that 22% of patients had at least one caregiver who reduced work hours or quit working, and that a diagnosis of dementia was among the patient characteristics associated with this. It concerns caregiver employment, not the treatment, cure, or prevention of 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.
- Mild Cognitive Impairment in Clinical Practice: A Review Article
- Qualitative study exploring knowledge and attitudes towards dementia risk prediction, barriers to dementia services and service improvement recommendations with diverse populations in England
- Addressing the “Total Taxpayer” Problem to Translate Veterans Health Administration Innovations in Long-Term Supports
- Cognitive improvement effects of electro-acupuncture for the treatment of MCI compared with Western medications: a systematic review and Meta-analysis
- Clarifying Confusion: The Confusion Assessment Method
- HIV-associated cognitive impairment before and after the advent of combination therapy
- Key Intervention Categories to Provide Person-Centered Dementia Care: A Systematic Review of Person-Centered Interventions
- Prediction of pathology in primary progressive language and speech disorders
- Breaking the silence: understanding the unique burden on informal Black male dementia caregivers
- Vitamin C Status and Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review