ArticleGeroScience2021
Mapping the multicausality of Alzheimer's disease through group model building.
Article in GeroScience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Participatory systems mapping: a review of population health research practice.Health research policy and systems · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Mapping the complexity of dementia: factors influencing cognitive function at the onset of dementia.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Population Attributable Fractions for Modifiable Risk Factors of Incident Dementia in Cognitively Normal and Mild Cognitively Impaired Older Adults: Data from Two Cohort Studies.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2022Pooled it
- Embracing complexity in transfusion research.Vox sanguinis · 2026Review
- Diagrams-to-Dynamics (D2D): Exploring causal loop diagram leverage points under uncertainty.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Using systems archetypes to understand system behaviour and identify leverage points for change in local obesity prevention in The Netherlands.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- The Young Adult Sleep model: an evolving causal loop diagram of mental health dynamics.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- A practical guide to interdisciplinary work in public health.Nature human behaviour · 2025Article
- Causal discovery and epidemiology: a potential for synergy.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Mapping complex public health problems with causal loop diagrams.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Quantifying reciprocal relationships between poverty and health: combining a causal loop diagram with longitudinal structural equation modelling.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- A Scoping Review of Alzheimers Disease Hypotheses: An Array of Uni- and Multi-Factorial Theories.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Article
- Utilizing Group Model Building to Identify Barriers and Facilitators of Hypertension Management in Primary Health Care, China.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Using network analysis to identify leverage points based on causal loop diagrams leads to false inference.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- European position paper on polypharmacy and fall-risk-increasing drugs recommendations in the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management: implications and implementation.European geriatric medicine · 2023Article
- Applying systems thinking to unravel the mechanisms underlying orthostatic hypotension related fall risk.GeroScience · 2023Article
- A causal loop diagram of older persons' emergency department visits and interactions of its contributing factors: a group model building approach.European geriatric medicine · 2023Article
- Implementing online group model building to unravel complex geriatric problems, a methodological description.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- The use of participatory systems mapping as a research method in the context of non-communicable diseases and risk factors: a scoping review.Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex, multicausal disorder involving several spatiotemporal scales and scientific domains. While many studies focus on specific parts of this system, the complexity of AD is rarely studied as a whole. In this work, we apply systems thinking to map out known causal mechanisms and risk factors ranging from intracellular to psychosocial scales in sporadic AD. We report on the first systemic causal loop diagram (CLD) for AD, which is the result of an interdisciplinary group model building (GMB) process. The GMB was based on the input of experts from multiple domains and all proposed mechanisms were supported by scientific literature. The CLD elucidates interaction and feedback mechanisms that contribute to cognitive decline from midlife onward as described by the experts. As an immediate outcome, we observed several non-trivial reinforcing feedback loops involving factors at multiple spatial scales, which are rarely considered within the same theoretical framework. We also observed high centrality for modifiable risk factors such as social relationships and physical activity, which suggests they may be promising leverage points for interventions. This illustrates how a CLD from an interdisciplinary GMB process may lead to novel insights into complex disorders. Furthermore, the CLD is the first step in the development of a computational model for simulating the effects of risk factors on AD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.