Abstract
Based on a presentation at the symposium of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Higher Brain Dysfunction, this article reviews research on the non-pharmacological approaches to dementia. First, development of a guideline for non-pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer's disease based on a systematic literature review was explained. We then presented a brief introduction to the book “Non-pharmacological Treatment of Dementia”, which was published in 2009. A literature search was undertaken to find non-pharmacological intervention studies published between January 2008 and October 2011. A list of articles which sought to examine the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions was presented. Although pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer's disease has been intensively studied and seems somewhat promising, a non-pharmacological approach is too important to dismiss when considering care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. There is emerging evidence, including randomized controlled trials, suggesting that a variety of non-pharmacological approaches have some effect. However, the volume of high-quality research on the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatment of dementia remains low, and some of the limitations of existing research include diverse methodologies, small samplings, varied outcome measurements, and sustainability and generalization of effectiveness. Further research on the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatment is needed.
