Effectiveness of an intervention to facilitate prompt referral to memory clinics in the United Kingdom: Cluster randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Most people with dementia do not receive timely diagnosis, preventing them from making informed plans about their future and accessing services. Many countries have a policy to increase timely diagnosis, but trials aimed at changing general practitioner (GP) practice have been unsuccessful. We aimed to assess whether a GP's personal letter, with an evidence-based leaflet about overcoming barriers to accessing help for memory problems-aimed at empowering patients and families-increases timely dementia diagnosis and patient presentation to general practice.

Methods and finding

Multicentre, cluster-randomised controlled trial with raters masked to an online computer-generated randomisation system assessing 1 y outcome. We recruited 22 general practices (August 2013-S

SUBMITTER: Livingston G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5349651 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature