title: Current pharmacologic treatment of dementia: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
abstract: METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: American College of Physicians and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, USA. aqaseem@acponline.org
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Qaseem
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Snow
authors.forename: J Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Forciea
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shekelle
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adelman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mehr
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schellhase
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campos-Outcalt
authors.forename: Pasqualina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santaguida
authors.forename: Douglas K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Owens
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000339:Affect; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003071:Cognition; D003704:Dementia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D000077265:Donepezil; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005702:Galantamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008559:Memantine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D048448:Phenylcarbamates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010880:Piperidines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011788:Quality of Life; D000068836:Rivastigmine; D013619:Tacrine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D007189:Indans; D048448:Phenylcarbamates; D010880:Piperidines; D005702:Galantamine; D013619:Tacrine; D000077265:Donepezil; D000068836:Rivastigmine; D008559:Memantine