Developing Topics.

Background: Vision impairment is a common complication of stroke, which has been linked to cognitive decline in stroke survivors. Little is known about how specific types of vision impairment influence the relationship between stroke and dementia. The aims of this project were: (1) to characterize the prevalence of both pre-stroke and stroke-related vision impairment(s) among stroke survivors with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, and (2) to determine associations of vision impairment with cognitive impairment, depression, and physical performance.

Effect of donepezil on bone metabolism among older adults with Alzheimer's disease.

Older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD), in addition to significant cognitive disability, have twice the risk of fracture compared to those with normal cognition. Fractures among older adults with AD are associated with substantial morbidity, loss of physical function, and significant mortality. Prior studies have shown a decreased risk of fracture among those taking acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, such as donepezil.

Understanding the implications of a complete case analysis for regression models with a right-censored covariate.

Despite its drawbacks, the complete case analysis is commonly used in regression models with incomplete covariates. Understanding when the complete case analysis will lead to consistent parameter estimation is vital before use. Our aim here is to demonstrate when a complete case analysis is consistent for randomly right-censored covariates and to discuss the implications of its use even when consistent.

Making Sense of Censored Covariates: Statistical Methods for Studies of Huntington's Disease.

The landscape of survival analysis is constantly being revolutionized to answer biomedical challenges, most recently the statistical challenge of censored covariates rather than outcomes. There are many promising strategies to tackle censored covariates, including weighting, imputation, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. Still, this is a relatively fresh area of research, different from the areas of censored outcomes (i.