For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
Inviting an author to review:
Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change
Find an author and click ‘Invite to review selected article’ near their name.
Search for authorsSearch for similar articles
77
views
30
references
 Top references
cited by
33
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    8
    shares
      810
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      The Use of Herbal Medicine in Alzheimer's Disease—A Systematic Review

      review-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The treatments of choice in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA-receptor antagonists, although doubts remain about the therapeutic effectiveness of these drugs. Herbal medicine products have been used in the treatment of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) but with various responses. The objective of this article was to review evidences from controlled studies in order to determine whether herbs can be useful in the treatment of cognitive disorders in the elderly. Randomized controlled studies assessing AD in individuals older than 65 years were identified through searches of MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane Library, dissertation Abstract (USA), ADEAR (Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Database), National Research Register, Current Controlled trials, Centerwatch Trials Database and PsychINFO Journal Articles. The search combined the terms Alzheimer disease, dementia, cognition disorders, Herbal, Phytotherapy. The crossover results were evaluated by the Jadad's measurement scale. The systematic review identified two herbs and herbal formulations with therapeutic effects for the treatment of AD: Melissa officinalis, Salvia officinalis and Yi-Gan San and BDW (Ba Wei Di Huang Wan). Ginkgo biloba was identified in a meta-analysis study. All five herbs are useful for cognitive impairment of AD. M. officinalis and Yi-Gan San are also useful in agitation, for they have sedative effects. These herbs and formulations have demonstrated good therapeutic effectiveness but these results need to be compared with those of traditional drugs. Further large multicenter studies should be conducted in order to test the cost-effectiveness of these herbs for AD and the impact in the control of cognitive deterioration.

          Related collections

          Most cited references30

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Efficacy of donepezil in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

          S Salloway, L. Kumar, A Kluger … (2004)
          To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil in a placebo-controlled trial in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 270 patients with MCI were enrolled in a 24-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Patients were randomized to receive donepezil (n = 133; 5 mg/day for 42 days, followed by forced dose escalation to 10 mg/day) or placebo (n = 137). Primary efficacy measures were the New York University (NYU) Paragraph Delayed Recall test and the Alzheimer disease (AD) Cooperative Study Clinician's Global Impression of Change for MCI (ADCS CGIC-MCI). Secondary efficacy measures included the modified AD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog), the Patient Global Assessment (PGA), and additional neuropsychologic measures. Efficacy analyses were performed on intent-to-treat (ITT) and fully evaluable (FE) populations. Primary efficacy measures of the NYU Paragraph Recall test and the ADCS CGIC-MCI did not show significant treatment effects in the ITT population. Some secondary measures showed effects favoring donepezil. More donepezil-treated patients showed improvements in ADAS-cog total scores, in tests of attention and psychomotor speed, and in PGA scores. More donepezil-treated than placebo-treated patients experienced adverse events, most of which were mild to moderate and transient. Although significant treatment effects were not seen in the primary efficacy measures, outcomes on secondary measures suggest promising directions for further evaluation of donepezil treatment in patients with MCI.
          Article 0 comments Cited 66 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Salvia officinalis extract in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial.

            S Akhondzadeh, M Noroozian, M. Mohammadi … (2003)
            Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a slow, progressive decline in cognitive function and behaviour. Acetylcholine esterase inhibitors are the only agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. All other agents prescribed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease are used on an off-label basis. Current research into new drugs is focused on agents that will prevent, slow down and/or halt the progress of the disease process. Salvia officinalis has been used in herbal medicine for many centuries. It has been suggested, on the basis of traditional medicine, its in vitro cholinergic binding properties and modulation of mood and cognitive performance in humans, that Salvia officinalis might potentially provide a novel natural treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of Salvia officinalis extract using a fixed dose (60 drops/day), in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, over a 4-month period. This was a 4-month, parallel group, placebo-controlled trial undertaken in three centres in Tehran, Iran. Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease aged between 65 and 80 years (n = 42, 18 women) with a score of > or = 12 on the cognitive subscale of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) and < or = 2 on the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) were randomized to placebo or fixed dose of S. officinalis extract. Over the 16 weeks, the main efficacy measures were the change in the ADAS-cog and CDR-Sum of Boxes scores compared with baseline. In addition, side-effects were systematically recorded throughout the study using a checklist. At 4 months, S. officinalis extract produced a significant better outcome on cognitive functions than placebo (ADAS-cog: F = 4.77, d.f. = 1, P = 0.03) (CDR-SB: F = 10.84, d.f. = 1, P < 0.003). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side-effects except agitation that appears to be more frequent in the placebo group (P = 0.09). The results of this study indicate the efficacy of S. officinalis extract in the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, S. officinalis may well reduce agitation of patients but this needs to be confirmed.
            Article 0 comments Cited 66 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              The importance of quality of primary studies in producing unbiased systematic reviews.

              Khalid Khan, S Daya, A Jadad (1996)
              Traditional and largely qualitative reviews of evidence are now giving way to much more structured systematic overviews that use a quantitative method to calculate the overall effect of treatment. The latter approach is dependent on the quality of primary studies, which may introduce bias if they are of poor methodologic quality. To test the hypothesis that the inclusion of poor-quality trials in meta-analyses would bias the conclusions and produce incorrect estimates of treatment effect. An overview of randomized trials of antiestrogen therapy in subfertile men with oligospermia was performed to test the hypothesis. Data sources included online searching of MEDLINE and Science Citation Index databases between 1966 and 1994, scanning the bibliography of known primary studies and review articles, and contacting experts in the field. After independent, blind assessment, nine of 149 originally identified studies met the inclusion criteria and were selected. We assessed study quality independently. Outcome data from each study were pooled and statistically summarized. There was a marginal improvement in pregnancy rate with antiestrogen treatment (odds ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.9 to 2.6). Sensitivity analyses on the basis of methodologic quality demonstrated that poor-quality studies produced a positive effect with treatment, whereas no benefit was observed with high-quality studies. The results of a meta-analysis are influenced by the quality of the primary studies included. Methodologically, poor studies tend to exaggerate the overall estimate of treatment effect and may lead to incorrect inferences.
              Article 0 comments Cited 56 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
                Journal ID (publisher-id): Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
                Title: Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
                Publisher: Oxford University Press
                ISSN (Print): 1741-427X
                ISSN (Electronic): 1741-4288
                Publication date (Print): December 2006
                Publication date (Electronic): 23 October 2006
                Volume: 3
                Issue: 4
                Pages: 441-445
                Affiliations
                1General Internal Medical Center, University Hospital of Brasilia University of Brasilia, Brazil
                2General Internal Medical Center, Department of Geriatrics University Hospital of Brasilia, Brazil
                3School of Pharmacy, Department of Health Sciences University of Brasilia, Brazil
                Author notes
                For reprints and all correspondence: Leopoldo Luiz dos Santos-Neto, Centro de Clínica Médica, Hospital Universitário de Brasília (HUB)-UnB, Caixa postal 04438, 70919-970 Brasília-DF, Brazil. Tel: +61-81610333; Fax: +61-32451875; E-mail: leoneto@ 123456uninet.com.br
                Article
                DOI: 10.1093/ecam/nel071
                PMC ID: 1697739
                PubMed ID: 17173107
                SO-VID: 1b959d3d-dc67-4e14-84fb-b493782eabe4
                Copyright © © 2006 The Author(s).
                License:

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 26 November 2005
                Date accepted : 15 September 2006
                Categories
                Subject: Reviews

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine
                Keywords: cognitive impairment,randomized clinical trial,herbs,dementia,elderly,alzheimer's disease,systematic review
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine
                Keywords: cognitive impairment, randomized clinical trial, herbs, dementia, elderly, alzheimer's disease, systematic review

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content810

                See all similar

                Cited by33

                See all cited by

                Most referenced authors436

                See all reference authors