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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 Jun 15;10(6):e0130353.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130353. eCollection 2015.

Cognitive Improvement during Treatment for Mild Alzheimer's Disease with a Chinese Herbal Formula: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Yulian Zhang  1 , Cuiru Lin  1 , Linlin Zhang  2 , Yuanwu Cui  1 , Yun Gu  2 , Jiakui Guo  1 , Di Wu  3 , Qiang Li  4 , Wanshan Song  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Cognitive Improvement during Treatment for Mild Alzheimer's Disease with a Chinese Herbal Formula: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Yulian Zhang et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the efficacy of Chinese herbal formula compared with donepezil 5 mg/day in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: Patients with mild AD meeting the criteria were randomized into Chinese herbal formula Yishen Huazhuo decoction (YHD) group and donepezil hydrochloride (DH) group during the 24-week trial. The outcomes were measured by ADAS-cog, MMSE, ADL, and NPI with linear mixed-effect models.

Results: 144 patients were randomized. The mean scores of ADAS-cog and MMSE in both YHD group and DH group both improved at the end of the 24-week treatment period. The results also revealed that YHD was better at improving the mean scores of ADAS-cog and MMSE than DH. Linear mixed-effect models with repeated measures showed statistical significance in time × group interaction effect of ADAS-cog and also in time × group interaction effect of MMSE. The data showed YHD was superior to DH in improving the scores and long term efficacy.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that Chinese herbal formula YHD is beneficial and effective for cognitive improvement in patients with mild AD and the mechanism might be through reducing amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque deposition in the hippocampus.

Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-TRC-12002846.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow diagram and disposition of the two groups.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Scores of ADAS-cog, MMSE, ADL, NPI in YHD and DH group.
A. ADAS-cog scores in groups of YHD and DH; B. MMSE scores in groups of YHD and DH; C. ADL scores in groups of YHD and DH; D. NPI scores in groups of YHD and DH.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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