ALOIS: a comprehensive register of dementia studies

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ALOIS is a comprehensive, open-access register of intervention RCTs or studies of diagnostic tests in dementia treatment, prevention and cognitive enhancement.

It contains information on both published and unpublished reports of controlled trials in this area. To facilitate the unique identication of trials, the search portal groups together multiple records about the same trial, making ALOIS comprehensively study-based.

We aim to be comprehensive, however, we recognise that we may occasionally miss a study. Please go to Submit a study if you want to notify us of a study that is not on this site.


ABOUT ALOIS

What is ALOIS?

ALOIS is a Study-Based Register which contains bibliographic and other information on controlled trials that have been completed, are ongoing or are planned in the areas of dementia (prevention and treatment) and cognitive improvement. ALOIS covers all types of dementia, not just Alzheimer's. All published and unpublished reports of individual studies are collected and linked to the relevant parent record. It was created in 2008 thanks to a grant from the Alzheimer's Association. It is a free open-access resource, available to anyone with an internet connection.

What is on ALOIS?

The register mainly contains records of RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) though there are also some CCTs (Controlled Clinical Trials) and some Open-label studies. For definitions of these study designs, see the Glossary.

There are currently around 3400 studies on ALOIS (September 2009). We are working hard to make ALOIS as comprehensive as possible. By 1st October 2009 we hope that ALOIS will be fully up-to-date with records of unique intervention trials in the area of dementia from a wide range of sources.

Who is ALOIS for?

ALOIS is for anyone interested in trials being conducted in the area of dementia and cognitve improvement. However, we see our main potential users being:

* Authors of systematic reviews (Cochrane and others)
* Funder who want to know what research already exists (and where there are potential research gaps)
* Researchers identifying gaps in the research and writing grant applications
* Teachers of evidenced-based dementia care
* Students of evidenced-based dementia care

ALOIS aims to take away some of the most frustrating elements of trying to find trials in this area. It hopes to provide a platofrm that facilitates the critical assessment of trials and to encourage all parties interested in Evidenced-Based Medicine in this subject to contribute their knowledge of studies to this EBM community resource.

How is ALOIS maintained?

This site is looked after by the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group (CDCIG). This group is responsible for creating the search strategies to retrieve relevant reports of studies, running the searches, assessing the results and coding and uploading the study details onto the register.

We are always on the lookout for willing and able volunteers to help us keep this resourse up-to-date and accurate. If you would be interested in volunteering some of your time and you possess medical knowledge in this area, please do Contact us.


What sources are searched and how often are they searched?

The following databases are searched monthly:

* Medline (Ovid SP)
* Embase (Ovid SP)
* PsycInfo (Ovid SP)
* Cinahl (EBSCOhost)
* Lilacs (Bireme)

The following trials registers are to be searched monthly from July 2009:

National and international trials registers:

* CentreWatch Clinical Trials Listing Service: www.centrewatch.com
* CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library): http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/mrwhome/106568753/HOME?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
* ClinicalTrials.gov: www.clinicaltrials.gov
* Current Controlled Trials (mRCT) (covers Action Medical Research; Medical Research Council - UK; National health Service Research and Development Health Technology Assessment Programme; National Institutes of Health; ISRCTN; ClinicalTrials.gov; The Wellcome Trust): www.controlled-trials.com/mrct
* IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal: http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm
* ISRCTN Trials Register: www.controlled-trials.com/isrctn
* National Research Register (was searched monthly until archived in September 2007): http://www.nrr.nhs.uk/
* Netherlands Trial Register: www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp
* NIHR Clinical Research Portfolio Database: http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search/
* UMIN Japan Trial Register: www.umin.ac.jp/ctr
* UK Clinical Trials Gateway: www.controlled-trials.com/ukctg
* WHO Portal (covers ClinicalTrials.gov; ISRCTN; Australian and New Zealand Clincal Trial Registry; Chinese Clinical Trial Register; India Clinical Trials Registry; German Clinical trials Register; Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials; Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry; The Netherlands National trial Register): www.who.int/trialsearch

Pharmacetical industry trials registers:

* AstraZeneca Clinical Trials: www.astrazenecaclinicaltrials.com
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Clinical Trial Regsitry: www.bms.com/clinical_trials/Pages/clinical_trial_registry.aspx
* Daiichi Sankyo: www.daiichisankyo.com
* Eil Lilly and Company Clinical Trials Registry: www.lillytrials.com
* Eisai: www.eisai.com/index.asp
* Forest Clinical Trial Regsitry: http://www.forestclinicaltrials.com/CTR/CTRController/CTRHome
* GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Trial Register: www.gsk-clinicalstudyregister.com
* Lundbeck: www.lunbeck.com
* NovartisClinicalTrials.com: www.novartisclinicaltrials.com/webapp/etrials/home.do
* Pfizer Clinical Trials: http://www.pfizer.co.uk/Research/Clinicaltrials/Pages/Clinicaltrials.aspx
* Roche Clinical Trial Protocol Registry: www.roche-trials.com/registry.html
* Shire: http://www.shirestudyresults.org/Search.aspx
* Wyeth Clinical Trial Listings: www.wyeth.com/ClinicalTrialListings

The following grey literature sources are to be searched monthly from October 2009:

* ISI Conference Proceedings: http://isiwebofknowledge.com/products_tools/multidisciplinary/webofscience/cpci/
* Australasian Digital Theses Program: http://adt.caul.edu.au/
* Theses Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/thesescanada/index-e.html
* Index to Theses (UK and Ireland): http://www.theses.com/
* DATAD: http://www.aau.org/datad/index.htm
* OPENSIGLE: http://opensigle.inist.fr/
* Dissertation Abstracts Online (US and Canadian): http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0035.html


Can users contribute to the site?

Users can submit details of a trial if they think it is one of which we currently have no details. This can be done by clicking on the Submit a study. Once a user has entered the details of study and clicked submit, the details come first to us at CDCIG to check before being uploaded onto the site. We also welcome more general comments and questions about the site and how it could be improved. Simply click on Contact us to send us any general comments, questions or suggestions.