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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Background: Preliminary evidence suggests that goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation (CR) may be a clinically effective intervention for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, vascular or mixed dementia and their carers. This study aims to establish whether CR is a clinically effective and cost-effective intervention for people with early-stage dementia and their carers.; Methods/design: In this multi-centre, single-blind […]
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 […]
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 […]
Background: Various models of intervention for caregivers of patients with dementia have been described. There has been little direct comparison of cultural differences between countries and the effect any differences may exert on the outcome of caregiver interventions.; Aims: The aims of the three-country study (USA, Australia and the UK) were to assess whether caregiver […]
The objective of this study is to investigate the safety and tolerability of memantine, a glutamatergic modulator, in patients suffering from dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease (PDD), an increasingly common complication of PD. This was a 22-week trial of 25 participants with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PDD who were randomized to either placebo or 20 […]
Background: The efficacy of galantamine has been shown in patients with mild, moderate, and advanced moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here we report its efficacy in patients with severe AD.; Methods: Between December, 2003, and March, 2007, patients aged 84 (SD 6) years with severe AD (mini-mental state examination [MMSE] score 5-12 points), in a nursing […]
Background: Improving the quality of care for people with dementia and their carers has become a national priority in many countries. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) groups can be beneficial in improving cognition and quality of life for people with dementia. The aim of the current study is to develop and evaluate a home-based individual Cognitive […]