Complementary Medicine for Dementia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

There are still no effective therapies for dementia. Therefore, this study focuses on complementary and alternative medicine, investigating the effect of composite complementary medicine. Four databases/platforms were searched for studies before March 1, 2022, applying Medical Subject Headings/keywords. The results were screened according to the inclusion criteria. A qualitative synthesis, risk of bias assessment (using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool), and meta-analysis (using the RevMan 5.4.1 software) were performed, and publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot. This study included 8 randomized controlled trials with 1,091 subjects. The mini-mental status examination was used to evaluate the intervention effect of dementia patients. The mean difference/95% confidence interval of overall studies was 2.09 [-0.58, 4.76]. Meanwhile, subgroup analyses such as intervention method, age and number of samples were performed. The effects of each group tended to be favorable to the experimental group. Dementia patients may focus on Chinese medicine diet therapy. The treatment based on pattern identification, pattern-based prescription and medication can improve the effectiveness of intervention. Those who are not elderly patients that may improve their symptoms by a greater margin. In the future, a sample of normal distribution with generalizability can be planned. A randomized, blinded controlled trial will be performed to investigate the efficacy of composite complementary medicine.