Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41783522›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neuroimaging2026

A systematic study on the integration of MRI connectivity metrics for Alzheimer's diagnosis, staging, and cognitive decline prediction.

Shahzad Ali, Wendy Kreshpa, Nicola Rosso, Michele Piana, Luca Roccatagliata, Alessio Cirone, Lorenzini Luigi, Cristina Campi, Matteo Pardini, Sara Garbarino

Abstract read
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Article in Frontiers in neuroimaging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Shahzad AliDepartment of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, Alma Mater Studiorum - Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Wendy KreshpaIRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Nicola RossoIRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Michele PianaLife Science Computational Laboratory (LISCOMP), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Luca RoccatagliataIRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Alessio CironeLife Science Computational Laboratory (LISCOMP), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Lorenzini LuigiDipartimento di Neuroscienze, riabilitazione, oftalmologia, genetica e scienze materno-infantili, Universitá degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy.
Cristina CampiLife Science Computational Laboratory (LISCOMP), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Matteo PardiniIRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.
Sara GarbarinoLife Science Computational Laboratory (LISCOMP), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative neurological disorder marked by cognitive decline and functional disability. Despite the extensive use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in machine learning (ML)-based AD studies, the relative and combined contributions of MRI-derived morphometric (MO), microstructural (MS), and graph-theoretical (GT) features are still not well explored in a unified, comparative framework. It remains unclear whether adding multimodal MRI-derived features consistently improves the predictive performance of ML-based approaches for AD diagnosis and cognitive decline. Addressing this gap, this study systematically analyzed the individual (MO, MS, GT) and combined (MO+MS, MO+GT, MS+GT, MO+MS+GT) utility of MRI-based feature sets. We developed an ensemble-based ML framework with a nested cross-validation module for two key tasks: (i) Alzheimer's disease cognitive stage classification (DSC) and (ii) longitudinal cognitive decline prediction (LCDP) in terms of mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score. In this study, we conducted feature ablation and statistical analysis to evaluate performance improvements resulting from the incremental addition of feature sets. The results of the study indicated that the proposed ensemble-based ML approach achieved the best predictive performance (balanced accuracy [BACC]: 0.898 ± 0.051) using a combination of MO and MS feature sets for cognitively normal (CN) vs. AD dementia (CN-ADD). In contrast, the best results for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) vs. ADD (MCI-ADD) and CN-MCI were achieved using the MO feature set alone, with BACC of 0.769 ± 0.116 and 0.652 ± 0.044, respectively. Likewise, for the LCDP task, the MO-based ensemble learner achieved an R

Indexed as

Alzheimer's diseaseensemble learninggraph theory metricsmachine learningMRI

Identifiers

PMID41783522
PMCPMC12953077

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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 Socratic graph.