We have been hard at work recently preparing the Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Annual Evidence Update (AEU) for the National Library for Health Later Life Specialist Library.

The purpose of AEUs is to bring together all of the guidelines and systematic reviews published in the past year and present them in a digestible format for clinicians and other health professionals.

AEUs reflect the NLH moving from "prevalence" to "incidence" in tracking the best available evidence around key clinical topics.  Because Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia (AD&D) affects around 800,000 people in the UK, it is of great importance to specialist and generalist health professionals alike. 

We searched four databases and sifted over 1,000 references in order to find the highest quality evidence on this topic.  We then categorised them according to the key clinical topics which affect everyday practice.

The references were reviewed by Drs Amitava Banerjee and Gail Hayward, who wrote six commentaries on the evidence:

• Definitions, Diagnosis and Screening;
• Risk factors and Aetiology;
• Pharmacological treatments;
• Non-pharmacological treatments;
• Rehabilitation, practice and care standards; and
• Evidence on other Dementias.
  

This AEU is intended to update the evidence from the Dementia Knowledge Week which was launched in June 2007.  

Links:

• Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Annual Evidence Update 2008
• NLH Later Life Specialist Library
• Dementia Knowledge Week 2007