ABSTRACT
The Austrian Alzheimer Society developed evidence-based guidelines based on a systematic literature search and criteria-guided assessment with subsequent transparent determination of grades of clinical recommendation. The authors evaluated currently available therapeutic approaches for the most common forms of dementia and focused on diagnosis and pharmacological intervention, taking into consideration the situation in Austria. The purpose of these guidelines is the rational and cost-effective use of diagnostic and therapeutic measures in dementing illnesses. Users are physicians and all other providers of care for patients with dementia in Austria.
Subject(s)
Dementia/diagnosis , Dementia/drug therapy , Evidence-Based Medicine , Nootropic Agents/therapeutic use , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Amino Acids/adverse effects , Amino Acids/therapeutic use , Antipsychotic Agents/adverse effects , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/adverse effects , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/therapeutic use , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Cognition Disorders/drug therapy , Cross-Sectional Studies , Dementia/epidemiology , Dementia/etiology , Drug Therapy, Combination , Female , Ginkgo biloba , Humans , Incidence , Life Style , Long-Term Care , Male , Medication Adherence , Memantine/adverse effects , Memantine/therapeutic use , Middle Aged , Plant Extracts/adverse effects , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Population Dynamics , Psychotropic Drugs/adverse effects , Psychotropic Drugs/therapeutic use , Randomized Controlled Trials as TopicABSTRACT
The definition of a separate nosological entity "panic disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd revision (DSM III) of the American Psychiatric Association triggered a flood of empirical research into this disorder. In this article the literature is surveyed to find out to what extent panic attacks and panic disorder bear specific relationships to measurable variables from the psychosocial and biological spheres. The investigated psychosocial variables are: experiences of separation in childhood; separation anxieties in childhood; sociodemographic correlates as they are known from epidemiological studies; personality factors; life events as possible triggering events of periods with panic attacks; and, finally, socalled "cognitive correlates". The results obtained in this field are just as inhomogeneous as they continue to be in the sphere of biological variables. Of these, the following factors are discussed: genetic factors; neurological and psycho-physiological correlates; the problem of mitral valve prolapse; endocrinal correlates and neurotransmitters. Present findings do not supply conclusive evidence either for or against separation of panic attacks from free-floating anxiety. The relationship between panic attacks and depressive disorders is equally unclear if judged on the basis of the results from empirical research which are far from uniform.
