Suboptimal Adherence to Brain Health Recommendations Common in Early Alzheimer Disease

FRIDAY, Aug. 14, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For patients with early Alzheimer disease (AD), suboptimal adherence to brain health recommendations is common, including among those pursuing anti-amyloid antibody therapy (AAT), according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer”s Disease.

Kirk R. Daffner, M.D., from Brigham and Women”s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the extent to which patients pursuing AAT for AD adhere to consensus-based brain health recommendations in a study involving 150 and 117 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia due to AD seeking AAT and not seeking AAT, respectively. Patients were assessed on 15 modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia using a clinical survey tool.

The researchers found that <3 percent of patients with early AD seeking AAT were adherent or had anthropometric measures or laboratory values in line with all 15 brain health recommendations. Physical activity, mood/stress, hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and body mass index were the five factors with the lowest adherence rates, with 44 to 63 percent of the AAT-seeking group suboptimally following consensus guidelines. More than 25 percent of the group were not adhering to guidelines for 11 of 15 factors. For patients seeking versus not seeking AAT, no robust differences were seen in the degree or pattern of guideline adherence.

“There is a fairly robust, accepted evidence base that a certain set of behaviors and medical factors support brain health, but effective implementation in clinical care is still mostly missing,” senior author Seth A. Gale, M.D., from the Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute in Boston, said in statement.

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