Alternatives to the use of antipsychotic medication for dementia patients

Managing neuropsychiatric symptoms and challenging behaviours in patients with dementia often involves the use of antipsychotic drugs. Unfortunately, the use of these drugs poses considerable risk to patients, and guidance was to use non-pharmacological interventions for treating these behavioural problems.

However, the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of alternatives to antipsychotic drug prescribing had not been collected or assessed systematically.

We wanted to understand how effective non-pharmacological interventions were in the treatment of dementia patients.

PIRU undertook a systematic review of 30 individual systematic reviews in order to provide policymakers, commissioners and clinicians with the best current evidence available.

For the majority of interventions, there was either conflicting evidence on their effectiveness or lack of robust evidence, especially on how to implement these interventions. Better research was needed to inform policy and practice.

Despite issues regarding the quality of available research, there was evidence in favour of some interventions which, if implemented, should be backed up with robust evaluation of effectiveness and implementation to improve the evidence base and service planning.

Results from the evaluation were presented at a number of conferences.