Efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation on cognitive function in patients with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Ying Tang, Yunhang Wang, Wenyuan Li et al.
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In 30 seconds
This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on cognitive function in 357 dementia patients across 9 randomized controlled trials. The analysis found that tACS significantly improved immediate global cognition (SMD = 0.28; p = 0.04) compared to sham stimulation, although no benefits were observed at follow-up.
Key findings
- tACS significantly improved immediate global cognition (SMD = 0.28; p = 0.04) compared to sham stimulation.
- Immediate recall, delayed recall, and associative memory were also significantly improved with tACS.
- No significant effects were observed for neuropsychiatric symptoms or executive function.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that tACS may offer a non-invasive approach to enhance cognitive function in dementia patients, particularly in immediate recall and global cognition, which could inform future therapeutic strategies.
What to keep in mind
The review is limited by the small number of studies, heterogeneous stimulation parameters, and insufficient follow-up data.