Dementia Awareness Week

Dementia in the spotlight: evidence and experience

Dementia Awareness Week, 20-27 May 2019, is a week on which organizations around the world concentrate their efforts on raising awareness about dementia.

Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement remit includes producing systematic reviews of both global cognitive impairment and focal cognitive impairments occurring in the context of brain disease. Many of these reviews are concerned with dementia and the Dementia Awareness Week provides an opportunity to put the spotlight on some of this Cochrane health evidence.

Many of us are caring for a family member with dementia, know someone with dementia, or may be looking ahead to our own futures, perhaps wondering what we could do to avoid or delay developing dementia ourselves. There are also many working in health and social care, and numerous third sector organisations, looking after and supporting people with dementia; and researchers working to change the future of dementia. There can’t be very many of us not touched by dementia in some way, which is why we have rounded-up some Cochrane evidence on dementia.

Take a look at these Evidently Cochrane blog posts featuring Cochrane Review evidence:

Dementia in the spotlight: Evidence and Experience. An introduction to the blog series.
Do memories matter? Is reminiscence over-rated as a therapy for people with dementia? Dementia care practitioner and researcher Bob Woods talks about reminiscence therapy and the evidence which he and his colleagues brought together in their recent Cochrane Review.
I have dementia and I take part in research. Here’s why. Patient with young onset dementia writes about taking part in dementia research, being valued, and opportunities to change the future.
Rivastigmine reviewed: doubts about dementia drug. Care home nurse reflects on Cochrane evidence on rivastigmine and the use of this drug in practice.
Drug withdrawal in people with dementia: what we know. Geriatrician features two Cochrane reviews on statin withdrawal and on antihypertensive withdrawal in people with dementia.
Arts therapies for dementia: “where words leave off, music begins”. Joint Co-Editor for Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement looks at the latest Cochrane evidence for creative arts therapies for people with dementia; music, dance, and visual arts.
Carers of people with dementia: with them, through to the end of it. A look at the state of the evidence on interventions that might help carers of people with dementia and a look at their experiences.
Cerebrolysin for vascular dementia: how much evidence is enough? A blog post designed for a scientific audience looking at a putative treatment for vascular dementia called Cerebrolysin.
Diagnosing dementia: is a questionnaire (IQCODE) good enough? A blog post for members of the public and the professionals who care for them that summarises the findings of a series of Cochrane reviews describing a structured questionnaire that is used to help identify possible dementia. The questionnaire is called the IQCODE (Informant Questionnaire for COgnitive Decline in the Elderly).