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Brief psychosocial therapy for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer disease (the CALM-AD trial)

Background: Good practice guidelines state that a psychological intervention should usually precede pharmacotherapy, but there are no data evaluating the feasibility of psychological interventions used in this way. Methods: At the first stage of a randomized blinded placebo-controlled trial, 318 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) with clinically significant agitated behavior were treated in an open […]

Prevention of Decline in Cognition after Stroke Trial (PODCAST): a study protocol for a factorial randomised controlled trial of intensive versus guideline lowering of blood pressure and lipids

Background: Stroke is a common cause of cognitive impairment and dementia. However, effective strategies for reducing the risk of post-stroke dementia remain undefined. Potential strategies include intensive lowering of blood pressure and/or lipids.; Design: multi-centre prospective randomised open-label blinded-endpoint controlled partial-factorial phase IV trial in secondary and primary care.; Participants: 100 participants from 30 UK […]

Donepezil and memantine for moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease

Background: Clinical trials have shown the benefits of cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. It is not known whether treatment benefits continue after the progression to moderate-to-severe disease.; Methods: We assigned 295 community-dwelling patients who had been treated with donepezil for at least 3 months and who had moderate or severe Alzheimer’s […]

Memantine for dementia in adults older than 40 years with Down’s syndrome (MEADOWS): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down’s syndrome is very high, and many such individuals who are older than 40 years have pathological changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence to support treatment with Alzheimer’s drugs is inadequate, although memantine is beneficial in transgenic mice. We aimed to assess safety and efficacy of memantine […]

Efficacy of memantine for agitation in Alzheimer’s dementia: a randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial

Background: Agitation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is common and associated with poor patient life-quality and carer distress. The best evidence-based pharmacological treatments are antipsychotics which have limited benefits with increased morbidity and mortality. There are no memantine trials in clinically significant agitation but post-hoc analyses in other populations found reduced agitation. We tested the primary […]

Optimised anaesthesia to reduce post operative cognitive decline (POCD) in older patients undergoing elective surgery, a randomised controlled trial

Background: The study determined the one year incidence of post operative cognitive decline (POCD) and evaluated the effectiveness of an intra-operative anaesthetic intervention in reducing post-operative cognitive impairment in older adults (over 60 years of age) undergoing elective orthopaedic or abdominal surgery.; Methods and Trial Design: The design was a prospective cohort study with a […]

A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial of Melissa officinalis oil and donepezil for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s disease

Background/aims: Behavioural and psychological symptoms (BPSD) are frequent in people with Alzheimer’s disease and cause considerable stress to patients and their carers. Antipsychotics have been widely used as a first-line treatment, resulting in an estimated 1,800 excess strokes and 1,600 excess deaths in the UK alone. Safe and effective alternatives are urgently needed. Based upon […]

The effect of staff training on agitation and use of restraint in nursing home residents with dementia: a single-blind, randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Agitation is common in dementia and is associated with use of restraints and use of psychotropic drugs. The aim of this study was to determine whether an education and supervision intervention could reduce agitation and the use of restraints and antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes.; Method: Four Norwegian nursing homes were randomly allocated to […]

DOMINO-AD protocol: donepezil and memantine in moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease – a multicentre RCT

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the commonest cause of dementia. Cholinesterase inhibitors, such as donepezil, are the drug class with the best evidence of efficacy, licensed for mild to moderate AD, while the glutamate antagonist memantine has been widely prescribed, often in the later stages of AD. Memantine is licensed for moderate to severe dementia […]

The effect of memantine on sleep behaviour in dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia

Objective: Two common and characteristic sleep disturbances have been described in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD); excessive daytime sleepiness and REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD). This study is an analysis of a secondary outcome measure of a larger study already reported, aimed to determine whether memantine has an effect on […]