Comparison of Cognitive Intervention Strategies for Older Adults With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: A Bayesian Meta-analytic Review.

Objectives: We aimed to identify the best form of cognitive therapy among 3 main cognitive interventions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) including cognitive training (CT), cognitive stimulation (CS), and cognitive rehabilitation (CR).

Design: Systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.

Setting And Participants: An exhaustive literature search was conducted based on PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database, the Chinese Biomedical Literature database, the Wan Fang database, and Web of Science and other database and randomized controlled trials were identified from their inception to May 1, 2018. Older adult participants diagnosed with AD were recruited.

Measures: We conducted a Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) to rank the included treatments. Cognitive functions were measured based on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). A series of analyses and assessments, such as the Pairwise meta-analysis and the risk of bias, were performed concurrently.

Results: Only 22 studies were included in our analysis based on a series of rigorous screenings, which comprised 1368 participants. No obvious heterogeneities were found in NMA (I = 32.7%, P = .07) after the data were pooled. The mean difference (MD) of CT [MD = 2.1, confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 3.2), CS (MD = 0.92, CI: -0.20, 2.0), and CR (MD = 2.0, CI: 0.73, 3.4) showed that CT and CR could significantly improve cognitive function as measured by MMSE in the treatment group whereas the CS was less effective. CT had the highest probability among the 3 cognitive interventions [the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) = 84.7%], followed by CR (SUCRA = 50.0%) and CS (SUCRA = 47.4%).

Conclusions/relevance: Our study indicated that the CT might be the best method for improving the cognitive function of AD patients. The findings from our study may be useful for policy makers and service commissioners when they make choices among different alternatives.