Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T13:08:24.146Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A narrative review of evidence for the provision of memory services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2015

Sube Banerjee*
Affiliation:
Centre for Dementia Studies, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RYUK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Sube Banerjee, Professor of Dementia, Centre for Dementia Studies, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RYUK. Phone: +01273-678472. Email: s.banerjee@bsms.ac.uk.
Get access

Abstract

Background:

One common finding in analyses of health systems with respect to dementia is that there is a “diagnosis gap” in dementia with less than a half of those with dementia ever attracting a diagnosis of dementia. The service response to this has been to develop memory clinics and other services to enable good quality diagnosis of the syndrome of dementia and its sub-types.

Methods:

This narrative review considers who memory assessment services are for and what they should aim to achieve. We will consider the evidence base and discuss “what good looks like.”

Results:

The sparsity of the evidence base for the provision of memory services is striking. There is a lack of studies that have evaluated the absolute and relative impact of different models of diagnostic services or the impact of diagnosis and stage of illness at diagnosis.

Conclusions:

There remains genuine uncertainly about: the positive and negative impacts of receiving the diagnosis of dementia; the effects of receiving the diagnosis of dementia at an earlier or later stage; and how best to provide memory assessment services in terms of clinical and cost-effectiveness. We need applied health research designed to fill these important evidence gaps, resolving uncertainty, and allowing the development and delivery of efficient and effective services and policy to enable people to live well with dementia. The methodology that will be needed will be a challenge since, due to ethical and practical considerations, it is likely to have to be observational rather than experimental.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alzheimer's Disease International (2011). World Alzheimer Report 2011. London: ADI.Google Scholar
Alzheimer's Disease International (2012). World Alzheimer Report 2012. London: ADI.Google Scholar
Alzheimer's Society (2012). Mapping the Diagnosis Gap. London: ASGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, S. (2010). Living well with dementia–development of the national dementia strategy for England. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 917922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Banerjee, S., Willis, R., Matthews, D., Contell, F., Chan, J. and Murray, J. (2007). Improving the quality of care for mild to moderate dementia: an evaluation of the Croydon memory service model. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 782788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Banerjee, S. and Wittenberg, R. (2009). Clinical and cost effectiveness of services for early diagnosis and intervention in dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 748754.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brayne, C., Gao, L., Dewey, M. and Matthews, F. E. (2006). Dementia before death in ageing societies—the promise of prevention and the reality. PLoS Medicine, 3, e397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brodaty, H., Woodward, M., Boundy, K., Ames, D. and Balshaw, R. (2011). Patients in Australian memory clinics: baseline characteristics and predictors of decline at six months. International Psychogeriatrics, 23, 10861096.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunn, F.et al. (2012). Psychosocial factors that shape patient and carer experiences of dementia diagnosis and treatment: a systematic review of qualitative studies. PLoS Medicine 9, e1001331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burns, A. and Buckman, L. (2013). Timely Diagnosis of Dementia: Integrating Perspectives, Achieving Consensus. London: BMA & NHS England.Google Scholar
Connell, C. M., Boise, L., Stuckey, J. C., Holmes, S. B. and Hudson, M. L. (2004). Attitudes toward the diagnosis and disclosure of dementia among family caregivers and primary care physicians. Gerontologist, 44, 500507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department of Health (2009). Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy. London: TSO.Google Scholar
Derksen, E., Vernooij-Dassen, M., Gillissen, F., Olde, R. M. and Scheltens, P. (2006). Impact of diagnostic disclosure in dementia on patients and carers: qualitative case series analysis. Aging and Mental Health, 10, 525531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doncaster, E., McGeorge, M. and Orrell, M. (2011). Developing and implementing quality standards for memory services: the memory services national accreditation programme (MSNAP). Aging and Mental Health, 15, 2333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, H.et al. (2003). A Canadian cohort study of cognitive impairment and related dementias (ACCORD): study methods and baseline results. Neuroepidemiology, 22, 265274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraser, M. (1992). Memory clinics and memory training. In Arie, T. (ed.), Recent Advances in Psychogeriatrics vol. 2 (pp. 105116). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
G8 and DH (2013). G8 Dementia Summit Declaration. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/g8-dementia-summit-agreementsG8.Google Scholar
Getsios, D., Blume, S., Ishak, K. J., Maclaine, G. and Hernandez, L. (2011). An economic evaluation of early assessment for Alzheimer's disease in the United Kingdom. Alzheimer's and Dementia, 8, 2230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iliffe, S., Wilcock, J. and Haworth, D. (2006). Obstacles to shared care for patients with dementia: a qualitative study. Family Practice, 23, 353362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klassen, T. P., Jadad, A. R. and Moher, D. (1998). Guides for reading and interpreting systematic reviews. 1. Getting Started. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medecine, 152, 700704.Google Scholar
Lawrence, V., Sampsi, K., Murray, J., Harari, D. and Banerjee, S. (2011). Dying well with dementia: a qualitative examination of good end of life care for people with dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 199, 417422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Couteur, D. G., Doust, J., Creasey, H. and Brayne, C. (2013). Political drive to screen for pre-dementia: not evidence based and ignores the harms of diagnosis. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 347, f5125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecouturier, J.et al. (2008). Appropriate disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia: identifying the key behaviours of “best practice.” BMC Health Services Research, 8, 95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindesay, J., Marudkar, M., van Diepen, E. and Wilcock, G. (2002). The second Leicester survey of memory clinics in the British Isles. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 4147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maguire, C. P., Kirby, M., Coen, R., Coakley, D., Lawlor, B. A. and O’Neill, D. (1996). Family members’ attitudes toward telling the patient with Alzheimer's disease their diagnosis. BMJ, 313, 529530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2004). National Institute for Clinical Excellence Guide to the Methods of Technology Appraisal. London: National Institute for Clinical Excellence.Google Scholar
National Institute for Clinical Excellence and Social Care Institute for Excellence (2006). Dementia: Supporting People with Dementia and Their Carers in Health and Social Care. London: NICE/SCIE.Google Scholar
Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2009). Dementia: Ethical Issues. London: Nuffield Council on Bioethics.Google Scholar
Pinner, G. and Bouman, W. P. (2003). Attitudes of patients with mild dementia and their carers towards disclosure of the diagnosis. International Psychogeriatrics, 15, 279288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poppe, M., Burleigh, S. and Banerjee, S. (2013). Qualitative evaluation of advanced care planning in early Dementia (ACP-ED). Plos One, 8, e60412. doi:10.1371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, S. G. and Whitehouse, P. J. (1995). Fairhill guidelines on ethics of the care of people with Alzheimer's disease: a clinical summary. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 43, 14231429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rawlins, M. D. and Culyer, A. J. (2004). National Institute for Clinical Excellence and its value judgments. BMJ, 329, 224227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, S. C.et al. (2005). Measurement of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: development of a new instrument (DEMQOL) and an evaluation of current methodology. Health Technology Assessment (Winchester, England), 9, 193.Google Scholar
Smith, S. C.et al. (2007). Development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: DEMQOL. Psychological Medicine, 37, 737746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wald, C., Fahy, M., Walker, Z. and Livingston, G. (2003). What to tell dementia caregivers—the rule of threes. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18, 313317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weimer, D. L. and Sager, M. A. (2009). Early identification and treatment of Alzheimer's disease: social and fiscal outcomes. Alzheimer's and Dementia, 5, 215226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2012). Dementia: A Public Health Priority. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Wright, N. and Lindesay, J. (1995). A survey of memory clinics in the British Isles. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 10, 379385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar