Published 9 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b550
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b550

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Evidence lacking for memory clinics to tackle dementia, say critics

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Critics have questioned the ethics of carrying out screening for dementia, part of the work proposed for a new network of memory clinics in England and Wales, when evidence of the effectiveness of current drugs for the disease is limited.

Iain Chalmers, editor of the James Lind Library and formerly of the Cochrane Collaboration, speaking at a Lancet conference in London last week, said that he was sceptical about the clinics.

"People ask why NICE [the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence] is limiting access to Alzheimer’s drugs. Well, the costs are rising very fast and they are not fantastically good. We are going to all have these memory clinics but what do we do when we diagnose someone?" he said. "I heard one expert say: ‘The cupboard is bare.’ Cholinesterase inhibitors cost £70m [80m; $100m] a year. You could have at least 700 extra elderly care doctors . . . [Full text of this article]

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• Melis, R., Meeuwsen, E., Parker, S., Olde Rikkert, M. (2009). Are memory clinics effective? The odds are in favour of their benefit, but conclusive evidence is not yet available. JRSM 102: 456-457 [Full text]  
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