A brief essay on non-pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

AbstractCurrent pharmacological therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) do not modify its course and are not always beneficial. Therefore, the optimization of quality of life represents the best possible outcome achievable in all stages of the disease. Cognitive and behavioural rehabilitation represents the main therapeutic approach for this purpose, also in order to mitigate indirectly the burden of distress of family caregivers. The aim of this mini-review is to go through this theme by discussing cognitive activation, virtual reality and neuromodulation techniques. The practices summarized in this essay are not alternative but, often, complementary therapies to standardized pharmacological treatment. The present mini-review has found encouraging results but also the need for more conclusive evidence for all types of non-invasive/non-pharmacological treatment of AD.

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Tratamentos não farmacológicos que melhoram a qualidade de vida de idosos com doença de Alzheimer: uma revisão sistemática

Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria ◽

10.1590/0047-2085000000142 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 65 (4) ◽

pp. 334-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paula Danielle Palheta Carvalho ◽

◽

Celina Maria Colino Magalhães ◽

Janari da Silva Pedroso

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Pharmacological Treatment ◽

Web Of Science

RESUMO Objetivo Realizar uma revisão sistemática sobre quais são os tratamentos não farmacológicos que ajudam a melhorar a qualidade de vida (QV) de idosos com doença de Alzheimer (DA) mais descritos na literatura nos últimos dez anos (2006-2016). Métodos Revisão sistemática da literatura realizada nas três primeiras semanas de janeiro de 2016, nas bases: Capes, SciELO, Web of Science, PubMed, Lilacs e Scopus. Foram utilizadas duas combinações de termos: (1) predictors AND quality of life AND elderly AND Alzheimer’s disease e (2) non-pharmacological treatment AND quality of life AND Alzheimer’s disease. Foram encontrados 240 artigos e analisados o título e o resumo dos artigos e, quando necessário, o próprio texto. Do total de 240 artigos, apenas quatro trabalhos preencheram os critérios de inclusão e foram selecionados. Resultados Os resultados mostraram que os tratamentos não farmacológicos mais descritos, no referido período, visando melhorar a QV de idosos com DA, foi a reabilitação, tanto cognitiva quanto multidisciplinar. Conclusão As técnicas de reabilitação mostraram-se capazes de melhorar a QV de idosos com doença de Alzheimer leve.

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Quality of life in dementia: the role of non-cognitive factors in the ratings of people with dementia and family caregivers

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610213000410 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (7) ◽

pp. 1097-1105 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Maria Fernanda Barroso Sousa ◽

Raquel Luiza Santos ◽

Cynthia Arcoverde ◽

Pedro Simões ◽

Tatiana Belfort ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Family Caregivers ◽

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Cognitive Factors ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Significant Difference

ABSTRACTBackground: The validity of self-reported quality-of-life (QoL) assessments of people with dementia (PWD) is a critical issue. We designed this study to determine the non-cognitive factors that are associated with self-reported QoL and PWD QoL as rated by family caregivers.Methods: Using a cross-sectional study, we assessed QoL of 41 people with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). The individuals with AD and their family caregivers completed the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (QoL-AD), the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of the various cofactors.Results: We observed a significant difference (t = 3.292, p < 0.01, d = 0.727) in the QoL measures of PWD after comparing self-reported assessments with the assessments of family caregivers. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that awareness of disease was related to PWD QoL-AD scores. Both the education levels of family caregivers and the depressive symptoms in PWD were related to the family caregivers’ ratings of PWD QoL.Conclusions: The difference between self-reported QoL and family caregivers’ ratings of QoL in people with mild dementia indicated that cognitive impairment was not the primary factor that accounted for the differences in the QoL assessments. Our findings suggested that non-cognitive factors, such as awareness of disease and depressive symptoms, played an important role in the differences between the self-reported AD QoL ratings and the caregivers’ AD QoL ratings. A major implication is that discrete measures such as cognition or level of function are likely to miss important factors that influence QoL.

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