Comparing Efficacy of Stimulation Therapy Techniques for Dementia Outcomes

Compared to other forms of stimulation therapy, maintenance cognitive stimulation therapy (MCST) is likely the most effective option to improve cognition and quality of life in people with dementia, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.

Researchers conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to compare group cognitive stimulation therapy (group CST), individual cognitive stimulation therapy (iCST), and MCST and rank each strategy’s effectiveness among participants with dementia.

The meta-analysis included all randomized controlled trials published from inception to March 2021 on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria.

A total of 1680 participants were included in the analysis. Authors compared outcomes for each strategy to those of a control group and noted the following findings:

• MSCT [standardized mean difference (SMD) 1.39, 95% CI .86, 1.91; low-quality evidence] and group CST (SMD .62, 95% CI .39, .84; very low-quality evidence) could significantly improve cognitive function;
• MCST (SMD 1.00, 95% CI .16, 1.85; low-quality evidence) and group CST (SMD .53, 95% CI .13, .92; low-quality evidence) demonstrated a statistically significant effect in improving quality of life; and
• iCST was not significantly inferior.

Researchers recorded no significant differences between each type of therapy.

“For people with dementia, group CST and MCST seems to promote more consistent benefits in terms of cognition and [quality of life] than the iCST, and MCST was likely to be the most effective CST setting,” authors concluded, adding that further randomized controlled trials are needed to fully understand MCST and iCST efficacy.

Reference:
Sun Y, Zhang X, Wang Z. Comparative effectiveness of 3 settings of cognitive stimulation therapy on cognition and quality of life for people with dementia: a systematic review and network [published online ahead of print December 20, 2021]. JAMDA. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2021.11.015