ArticlePloS one2024
Temporal trends in mental health terminology in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Trends in Neuropsychiatric Terminology Use Within Registered Clinical Trials for Multiple Sclerosis: A Retrospective Descriptive Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite several studies having correlated Alzheimer's disease with mental health conditions, the extent to which they have been incorporated into Alzheimer's disease clinical trials remains unclear.
objectiveThis study aimed to assess the temporal trends in mental health-related terminology in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials as a proxy measure of research interest. Additionally, it sought to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frequency of these terms through pre-pandemic and post-pandemic trend assessment.
methodsIn this retrospective descriptive analysis, we included 2243 trials with a start date between 1988 and 2022 by searching for the keyword "Alzheimer Disease" in the U.S. National Library of Medicine ClinicaTrials.gov database. A Python program was created to extract and count the frequency of four mental health terms (loneliness, depression, anxiety, and distress) by year and trial status (e.g., completed, active, recruiting). Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the yearly patterns in the appearance of the four mental health terms. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify trial characteristics associated with each mental health term.
resultsOur results depicted a statistically significant increasing trend in three (i.e., loneliness, anxiety, distress) of the four mental health conditions by year. A comparison between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic trials showed an increase in the mention of the same three words over time.
interpretationThese results may suggest a growing awareness of mental health conditions and a greater interest in considering these conditions in Alzheimer's disease trials, particularly after the onset of COVID-19. Future researchers should conduct more in-depth analyses to examine how mental health variables are operationalized in these trials, with consideration for their subsequent success.
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