Affiliations: [a] Key Laboratory of Ethnomedicine of Ministry of Education, Center on Translational Neuroscience, School of Pharmacy, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
| [b] College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Prof. Yong Cheng, Key Laboratory of Ethnomedicine for Ministry of Education, Center on Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, No. 27, South Street of Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China. Tel.: +86 10 68931383; Fax: +86 10 68936927; E-mail: yongcheng@muc.edu.cn; Prof. Qingshan Liu, School of Pharmacy, Minzu University of China, No. 27, South Street of Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China. E-mail: nlqsh@163.com; qingshan@muc.edu.cn.
Abstract: Background: Evidence summaries for efficacy and safety of frequently employed treatments of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are sparse. Objective: We aimed to perform an updated umbrella review to identify an efficacious and safe treatment for AD patients. Methods: We conducted a search for meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the Embase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to address this knowledge gap. We examined the cognitive functions, behavioral symptoms, global clinical assessment, and Activities of Daily Living as efficacy endpoints, and the incidence of adverse events as safety profiles. Results: Sixteen eligible papers including 149 studies were included in the umbrella review. The results showed that AChE inhibitors (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, Huperzine A), Ginkgo biloba, and cerebrolysin appear to be beneficial for cognitive, global performances, and activities of daily living in patients with AD. Furthermore, anti-Aβ agents are unlikely to have an important effect on slowing cognitive or functional impairment in mild to moderate AD. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that AChE inhibitors, Ginkgo biloba, and cerebrolysin are the optimum cognitive and activities of daily living medication for patients with AD.
