Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Cognitive Function in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Objective:
The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (AD) patients.
Materials and Methods:
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched until April 2018. The primary cognitive outcomes were extracted from included articles. A crude standardized mean difference with 95% CI was calculated by using fixed or random effect models.
Results:
Seven studies with 146 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled result showed that tDCS significantly improved cognitive function of AD patients (standardized mean difference=0.37; 95% CI, 0.09-0.65; P=0.01). Subgroup analyses showed that: a single session of tDCS was significantly effective (P0.05) but not higher current density (0.08 mA/cm2) significantly improved cognitive performance;…

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