Non-drug treatments for symptoms in dementia: an overview of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions in the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms and challenging behaviours in patients with dementia

In order to fill this gap in evidence, PIRU was commissioned by the Department of Health to carry out a systematic review of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments or therapies for managing neuropsychiatric and challenging behaviours in patients with dementia. Given the vast literature on this topic, PIRU carried out an ‘overview’ of reviews which involved examining thirty recent systematic reviews in order to summarise their results on the effectiveness of alternative treatments.