Reviewing the evidence on how to treat and care for people with early-stage dementia without drugs

Lead Investigator: Professor Carol Brayne
Institution: Cambridge University
Grant type: Project

This research is generously supported in part by the family of Miriam Frances Clement.

Scientific Title: Reviewing the evidence on how to treat and care for people with early-stage dementia without drugs

What do we already know?

While some drugs can improve the symptoms of dementia and temporarily slow down their progression they may not work for everyone.  There may also be a number of side effects from taking these drugs such as feeling sick, loss of appetite, dizziness and headaches. 

Many other techniques (called ‘non-pharmacological interventions’) have also been tested as a treatment for dementia; examples of these interventions include counselling, education, light therapy and music therapy.  Scientists hope that these ‘non-pharmacological interventions’ will help people with dementia and/or their carers, but it is not clear how well these treatments have been researched or what benefits they may have.

This research will systematically review the scientific literature to examine the range of health and social care outcomes which have been measured and the impact of these treatments in people with dementia.

What does this project involve?

Systematic reviews involve searching and examining the research that has been done so far, to see which findings are consistent across a number of different studies.  A team at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health will systematically review the evidence looking at non-pharmacological interventions intended to benefit people who are still living in the community, or benefit family members and those health/social care workers who care for people with dementia.

The research will also examine the range of health and social care outcomes which have been measured by scientists.  At the moment researchers and scientists have different ideas as to which ‘outcome measures’ should be recorded.  As there are a wide range of outcomes in different studies, the comparison of successful interventions is made more difficult.

The review will record the measures used and classify the studies according to outcome, in order to try and find out what areas have been focused on, and where further research is required. This will help scientists in the future know what precisely needs to be measured in order to determine whether an intervention is benefiting the person with dementia, carer or professional who receives it.

How will this benefit people with dementia?

If the review is able to establish that certain non-drug treatments are of benefit, then efforts can be made to make these interventions more widely available.

If other interventions are shown to be of no benefit, then resources can be saved by abandoning their use.

Such interventions, should they be found to be effective, could carry many advantages over pharmacological interventions. This research will therefore impact on the advice given by the Alzheimer’s Society's helpline and information services. The results of this project will also inform the dementia research community as to which interventions deserve to be further studied, in order to further improve outcomes for people with dementia and their families.