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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Matthew Prina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020.Objectives: Non-pharmacological treatments are an important aspect of dementia care. A wide range of interventions have been trialled for mild dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the variety of outcome measures used in these trials makes it difficult to make meaningful comparisons. The objective of this study is to map trends in which outcome measures are used in trials of non-pharmacological treatments in MCI and mild dementia. Design: Scoping review. Data sources: EMBASE, PsychINFO, Medline and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception until February 2018. An additional search was conducted in April 2019. Eligibility: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) testing non-pharmacological interventions for people diagnosed with MCI or mild dementia. Studies were restricted to full RCTs; observational, feasibility and pilot studies were not included. Charting methods: All outcome measures used by included studies were extracted and grouped thematically. Trends in the types of outcome measures used were explored by type of intervention, country and year of publication. Results: 91 studies were included in this review. We extracted 358 individual outcome measures, of which 78 (22%) were used more than once. Cognitive measures were the most frequently used, with the Mini-Mental State Examination being the most popular. Conclusions: Our findings highlight an inconsistency in the use of outcome measures. Cognition has been prioritised over other domains, despite previous research highlighting the importance of quality of life and caregiver measures. To ensure a robust evidence base, more research is needed to highlight which outcome measures should be used over others. PROSPERO registration number CRD42018102649.
Author(s): Couch E, Lawrence V, Co M, Prina M
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMJ Open
Year: 2020
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Print publication date: 01/04/2020
Online publication date: 20/04/2020
Acceptance date: 04/03/2020
ISSN (electronic): 2044-6055
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035980
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035980
PubMed id: 32317262
