Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Cognitive Impairment in Stroke Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Emerging evidence has shown that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may significantly improve cognitive impairment in stroke patients, but individually published studies show inconclusive results. This meta-analysis aimed to derive a more precise estimation of the effects of rTMS on cognitive impairment in stroke patients based on studies published in peer-reviewed journals. A literature search of MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Current Contents Index, and three Chinese databases were conducted on articles published before April 30, 2014. Crude standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) was calculated. Six clinical studies with a total of 132 stroke patients with cognitive impairment who underwent rTMS were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results revealed that rTMS might significantly improve cognitive function in stroke patients (SMD = 1.76, 95 % CI = 0.43–3.10, P < 0.010). Ethnicity-stratified analyses yielded significantly different estimates in the clinical scores after rTMS in stroke patients with cognitive impairment in China (SMD = 2.99, 95 % CI = 0.39–5.60, P = 0.024), while no similar results were observed in stroke patients in Korea and the USA (Korea: SMD = 0.86, 95 % CI = −0.16–1.88, P = 0.100; USA: SMD = 0.00, 95 % CI = −0.80–0.80, P = 0.987; respectively). Our findings...
Source: Molecular Neurobiology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research