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ABSTRACT
Background
Growing evidence suggests that cognitive dysfunction significantly impacts patients’ quality of life. Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) has emerged as a potential intervention for cognitive dysfunction. However, consensus on the iTBS protocol for cognitive impairment is lacking.
Methods
We conducted searches in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database and the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database from their inception to January 2024. Random-effects meta-analyzes were used to calculate standardized mean differences and 95% confidence intervals. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.
Results
Twelve studies involving 506 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The analysis showed a trend toward improvement of total cognitive function, activities of daily living and P300 latency compared to sham stimulation in patients with cognitive dysfunction. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that these effects were restricted to patients with post-stroke cognitive impairment but not Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, subthreshold stimulation also exhibited a significant improvement.
Conclusions
The results suggest that iTBS may improve cognitive function in patients with cognitive dysfunction, although the quality of evidence remains low. Further studies with better methodological quality should explore the effects of iTBS on cognitive function.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the study participants for their time and effort.
Supplementary Material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2024.2344087
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Abbreviations
| PD | = | Parkinson’s disease |
| AD | = | Alzheimer’s disease |
| PSCI | = | Post stroke cognitive impairment |
| NIBS | = | Non-invasive brain stimulation |
| rTMS | = | Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation |
| iTBS | = | Intermittent theta burst stimulation |
| LTP | = | Long-term potentiation |
| lDLPFC | = | Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex |
| RCT | = | Randomized controlled trials |
| ADL | = | Activities of daily living |
| GRADE | = | Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation |
| RMT | = | Resting motor threshold |