Sunday, August 23, 2015

DG: The Knowledge Pile

"The trouble with Social Work", my old professor used to say, "is that it doesn’t so much have a knowledge base as a knowledge pile." With apologies to him - Brian Sheldon - I think I’m about to
reproduce the problem here.

One day this page will have turned in to an orderly list of resources and sources of information about and/or relevant to the theme of chess and dementia. Sorted according to type (journal articles; reports; newspaper /website articles etc) and topic, what I’m aiming for is a webpage that is the place to start for anybody interesting in finding accurate and reliable information from trusted sources. And perhaps a reference or two to the less reliable and less trusted, if only to make sure that we all know what’s out there.

One day.

What it is going to be for a long while - what it certainly is now - is a more or less random list of (a) things I happen to have come across and (b) have had time to record here. No real structure and no explanation of what the different publications are or why somebody might be interested in reading them.

Still, starting small is better than not starting at all. I’ll be adding things as we go along, with an initial focus on material that can be easily found online. If you happen to know of something that’s not already included here, please do get in touch in the comments box and let me know.

Chess and Dementia Index



JOURNAL ARTICLES

Akbaraly T N, Portet F, Fustinoni S, Dartigues J-F, Artero S, Rouaud O, Touchon J, Ritchie K, Berr C  (2009)
Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly: Results from the Three-City Study, Neurology vol 73 no 11, 854-861

Abstract; Full text not currently available online


Dartigues J F, Foubert-Samier A, Le Goff M, Viltard M, Amieva H, Orgogozo J M, Barberger-Gateau P, Helmer C (2013)
Playing board games, cognitive decline and dementia: a French population-based cohort study, BMJ Open: 3


Hall C B, Lipton R B, Silwinski M, Katz M J, Derby C A, Verghese J (2009)
Cognitive Activities Delay Onset of memory Decline in Persons Who Develop Dementia, Neurology, vol 73 no 5, 356-361
Abstract; Full text


Hughes T F, Chang C-C H, Vander Bilt J, Ganguly M (2010)
Engagement in Reading and Hobbies and Risk of Incident Dementia: The MoVIES Project, The American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 25(5) 432-438
Abstract; Full Text


Sorman D E, Sundstrom A, Ronnlund M, Adolfsson R, Nilsson L-G (2013)
Leisure Activity in Old Age and Risk of Dementia: A 15-Year Prospective Study, Journals of Gerontology, Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 69 no 4, 493-501
Abstract; Full Text


Verghese J, Lipton R B,  Katz M J, Hall C B, Derby C A, Kuslansky G, Ambrose A F, Silwinski M, Buschke M (2003)
Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly New England Journal of Medicine 348 2508-2516


Wang H-X, Weili X, Jin-Jing P (2012)
Leisure Activities Cognition and Dementia, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, vol 1822 no 3, 482-491
Abstract; Full text





REPORTS

Daviglus ML, Bell CC, Berrettini W, Connolly ES jr, Cox NJ, Dunbar-Jacob JM, Granieri EC, Hunt G, McGarry K, Patel D, Potosky AL, Sanders-Bush E, Silberberg D, Trevisan M (2010)
National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference statement: preventing alzheimer disease and cognitive decline, Annals of Internal Medicine, vol 153 no. 3, 176-181



Sense About Science: I’ve got nothing to lose by trying it

International Longevity Centre: Preventing Dementia: A Provocation

FIDE: Social Action Chess Commission: "SACC" Report, 85th FIDE Congress





Alzheimer’s Society Factsheets
What is dementia?
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
What is vascular dementia?
Am I at risk of developing dementia?
The progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias





Websites
Alzheimer’s Society
Alzheimer's Research UK
Ask for Evidence
Bad Science
Sense About Science

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you wanted a layman's appreciation would it be that

(a) Studies have shown
(b) Some studies have shown
(c) Studies suggest
(d) Some studies suggest

that

(e) mental and physical activity (including chess) may act to postpone dementia
(f) mental and physical activity (including chess) will act to postpone dementia

If you were writing a general promotional article about chess, which combination would be valid?

I suppose if you choose the stronger second half (f), you couple it with a weaker first half.

The statement by an ECF Director that was queried on a couple of forums has been promoted to an explicit link on the ECF home page.

RdC

Jonathan B said...

Roger, of your options I would go for (d) (e) - although only if I then made explicit reference to which particular studies I was talking about.

(f) is simply unsupported by the current state of the research literature.


I had noticed the ECF homepage now carries a link to the article you mention. Not a positive development, I would say.