Dear colleagues,

Welcome to the Third Canadian Consensus Conference on Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia Official Website.

This site is designed to allow you to view and download the evidence-based recommendations and supporting materials developed through the Third Canadian Consensus Conference on Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia (CCCDTD3). All materials are accessible through the buttons on the left-hand side of your screen.

Full Recommendations: This button connects to PDF versions of the recommendations in French or English.

Articles: Eighteen background articles that provide supporting evidence for these recommendations were recently published in the October 2007 issue of the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Through arrangements with Elsevier, the publisher of  Alzheimer’s & Dementia, and as a service to our Canadian physician colleagues, we are offering freely downloadable PDF reprints of the October issue of Alzheimer’s & Dementia on this site.

Downloading the Articles:  To access the reprints click on the “Articles” button on the left-hand side of your screen and click on the link on the page that opens.

Slide Resources: A set of PowerPoint slides that feature the recommendations are available for use in lectures. Currently these are in English, with a French version to be soon available.

The CCCDTD3 took place in 2006 with the goal of drawing up wide-ranging recommendations for family physicians and specialists in Canada. A steering committee of nationally eminent experts in different aspects of dementia was formed to organize this meeting. Members (listed alphabetically) were:

• Dr. Howard Bergman (Joseph Kaufmann Professor of Geriatric Medicine, McGill University);
• Dr. Howard Chertkow (Professor of Neurology and Geriatric Medicine, McGill University, Chair of the Steering Committee);
• Dr. John W. Feightner (Family Physician; Professor of Family Practice, University of Western Ontario);
• Dr. Howard Feldman (Professor and Head, Division of Neurology, University of British Columbia);
• Dr. Serge G. Gauthier (Professor of Neurology, Medicine and Psychiatry, McGill University);
• Dr. Nathan Herrmann (Geriatric Psychiatrist; Professor and Director of Geriatric Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Hospital, University of Toronto);
• Dr. David Hogan (Brenda Stafford Foundation Chair and Professor in Geriatric Medicine, University of Calgary);
• Dr. Yves Joanette (Director, Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal);
• and Dr. Christopher J. Patterson (Professor of Geriatric Medicine; McMaster University).

Forty-five experts from the fields of neurology, geriatric medicine, geriatric psychiatry, neuropsychology and family practice reviewed the literature, arranged background papers, developed recommendations, and voted on these recommendations. Over the course of one year, we refined an evidence-based set of recommendations, each gaining approval by at least 80% of the group.

Financial and/or in-kind support was obtained from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, Alzheimer Society of Canada, Consortium of Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research, Canadian Neurological Society, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry, Quebec Network for Research on Aging, and Canadian Geriatrics Society. Pharmaceutical companies could make unrestricted contributions of $10,000 each and attend the consensus meeting in the capacity of observers only.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with these recommendations and the evidence-based support behind them in the hope they will help to improve medical practice and dementia care in Canada.