Clinical Interventions in Aging (Jul 2019)
Different durations of cognitive stimulation therapy for Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Juexuan Chen,*,1 Yuting Duan,*,1,2 Huanjie Li,3 Liming Lu,1 Jihong Liu,3 Chunzhi Tang11Medical College of Acu-Moxi and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Clinical Study Centre, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China; 3Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workObjective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) of different durations for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Methods: A comprehensive search was carried out in three databases. The primary outcome was Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score. We conducted a meta-analysis with Review Manager, version 5.3 and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies using the Cochrane Collaboration Recommendations assessment tool.Results: Treatment effects from the meta-analysis showed that CST plus acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) was better than the control assessed by MMSE. In addition, the meta-analysis indicated that long-term CST was better than short-term or maintenance CST.Conclusion: Our study confirmed that the combination of CST and drug treatment for AD is effective in AD, regardless of whether short-term CST, maintenance CST, or long-term CST is used. The long-term CST appears to be more effective.Keywords: cognitive stimulation therapy, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive symptom, meta-analysis
