Top Alzheimer's disease, dementia research of 2015

As 2015 comes to a close, Healio.com/Psychiatry looked back at the most popular research on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia within the past year.

They include investigations of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia risk factors, potential treatments, new screening tools, and a call for further research in the field.

Vitamin D deficiency increased dementia, Alzheimer's disease risk

David J. Llewellyn, PhD, of the University of Exeter Medical School in the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated 1,658 adults aged 65 years and older without dementia to determine the effect of vitamin D levels on dementia risk. Participants were followed for a mean of 5.6 years. Read more

High antihistamine use among elderly increased risk for dementia, Alzheimer's disease

Shelly L. Gray, PharmD, MS, of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, and colleagues conducted a population-based prospective cohort study on participants from the Adult Changes in Thought study. Study participants (median age at enrollment, 74.4 years) were randomly sampled Seattle-area Group Health members recruited from 1994 to 1996. Additional participants were enrolled from 2000 to 2003. Read more

Alzheimer's disease dementia may be detectable via cognitive tests 18 years prior to diagnosis

To further explore the relation of performance on brief cognitive tests to development of diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease dementia, researchers assessed data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, a longitudinal, population-based study of health conditions among adults aged 65 years and older. Study participants (n = 2,125) completed cognitive tests approximately every 3 years over an 18-year follow-up period. Fifty-five percent of the study cohort was black. The study was conducted from 1993 to 2012. Read more

New brief dementia screening tool shows comparable accuracy with gold standard

Due to shortcomings of current dementia screening methods, James E. Galvin, MD, MPH developed the Quick Dementia Rating System (QDRS), a 10-item questionnaire that assesses memory and recall, orientation, decision-making and problem solving abilities, activity outside the home, function at home and hobbies, personal hygiene, behavior and personality changes, language and communication abilities, mood, and attention and concentration. The QDRS is completed by a caregiver, family member or friend. Scores range from 0 to 30, with higher scores representing greater cognitive impairment. Read more

Experts: ‘Lifestyle use’ of cognitive enhancing drugs should be investigated

The long-term ‘lifestyle use’ use of cognitive enhancing drugs by healthy people is potentially harmful and should be further investigated by the government, pharmaceutical industry, and national medical organizations, according to a Personal View paper recently published in The Lancet Psychiatry. Read more

Meta-analysis highlights modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

In a meta-analysis of 323 studies, researchers identified medical, dietary, biochemical, psychological and lifestyle factors associated with increased and decreased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Read more

Six goals to close research gap, slow dementia progression

The complex nature of dementia emphasizes the relevance of how care is delivered in a multifactorial approach. One speaker addressed six goals to close the research gap at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit 2015. Read more

Phase 2 study shows resveratrol safe, effective for Alzheimer's disease

Turner and colleagues conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to assess the effect of resveratrol on plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of the biomarkers amyloid-beta (Aβ) 42 and Aβ40, and cerebrospinal fluid tau and phospho-tau 181, and on volumetric MRI outcomes. They also evaluated safety and tolerability of resveratrol. Read more