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Current pharmacologic treatment of dementia: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Ann Intern Med 2008 Mar 04;148(5):370-8

Date

03/05/2008

Pubmed ID

18316755

DOI

10.7326/0003-4819-148-5-200803040-00008

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-41049104686 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   323 Citations

Abstract

DESCRIPTION: The American College of Physicians and American Academy of Family Physicians developed this guideline to present the available evidence on current pharmacologic treatment of dementia.

METHODS: The targeted literature search included evidence related to the effectiveness of 5 U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacologic therapies for dementia for outcomes in the domains of cognition, global function, behavior/mood, and quality of life/activities of daily living. RECOMMENDATION 1: Clinicians should base the decision to initiate a trial of therapy with a cholinesterase inhibitor or memantine on individualized assessment. (Grade: weak recommendation, moderate-quality evidence.) RECOMMENDATION 2: Clinicians should base the choice of pharmacologic agents on tolerability, adverse effect profile, ease of use, and cost of medication. The evidence is insufficient to compare the effectiveness of different pharmacologic agents for the treatment of dementia. (Grade: weak recommendation, low-quality evidence.) RECOMMENDATION 3: There is an urgent need for further research on the clinical effectiveness of pharmacologic management of dementia.

Author List

Qaseem A, Snow V, Cross JT Jr, Forciea MA, Hopkins R Jr, Shekelle P, Adelman A, Mehr D, Schellhase K, Campos-Outcalt D, Santaguida P, Owens DK, American College of Physicians/American Academy of Family Physicians Panel on Dementia

Author

Kenneth G. Schellhase MD, MPH Adjunct Professor in the Family Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Activities of Daily Living
Affect
Cholinesterase Inhibitors
Cognition
Dementia
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists
Galantamine
Humans
Indans
Memantine
Phenylcarbamates
Piperidines
Quality of Life
Rivastigmine
Tacrine