Dataset Information

Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cognition is commonly affected in brain disorders. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) may have procognitive effects, with high tolerability. This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in improving cognition, in schizophrenia, depression, dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis.

Methods

A PRISMA systematic search was conducted for randomized controlled trials. Hedges' g was used to quantify effect sizes (ES) for changes in cognition after TMS/tDCS v. sham. As different cognitive functions may have unequal susceptibility to TMS/tDCS, we separately evaluated the effects on: attention/vigilance, working memory, executive functioning, processing speed, verbal fluency, verbal learning, and social cognition.

Results

We included 82 studies (n = 2784). For working memory, both TMS (ES = 0.17, p = 0.015) and tDCS (ES = 0.17, p = 0.021) showed small but significant effects. Age positively moderated the effect of TMS. TDCS was superior to sham for attention/vigilance (ES = 0.20, p = 0.020). These significant effects did not differ across the type of brain disorder. Results were not significant for the other five cognitive domains.

Conclusions

Our results revealed that both TMS and tDCS elicit a small trans-diagnostic effect on working memory, tDCS also improved attention/vigilance across diagnoses. Effects on the other domains were not significant. Observed ES were small, yet even slight cognitive improvements may facilitate daily functioning. While NIBS can be a well-tolerated treatment, its effects appear domain specific and should be applied only for realistic indications (i.e. to induce a small improvement in working memory or attention).

SUBMITTER: Begemann MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7737055 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis.

Begemann Marieke J MJ Brand Bodyl A BA Ćurčić-Blake Branislava B Aleman André A Sommer Iris E IE

Psychological medicine 20201019 15

<h4>Background</h4>Cognition is commonly affected in brain disorders. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) may have procognitive effects, with high tolerability. This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in improving cognition, in schizophrenia, depression, dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis.<h4>Methods</h4>A PRISMA systematic search was conducted for ...[more]

PMID: 33070785

Similar Datasets

Project description:Non-invasive brain stimulation has been widely investigated as a potential treatment for a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including brain injury. However, the behavioural effects of brain stimulation are variable, for reasons that are poorly understood. This is a particular challenge for traumatic brain injury, where patterns of damage and their clinical effects are heterogeneous. Here we test the hypothesis that the response to transcranial direct current stimulation following traumatic brain injury is dependent on white matter damage within the stimulated network. We used a novel simultaneous stimulation-MRI protocol applying anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation to 24 healthy control subjects and 35 patients with moderate/severe traumatic brain injury. Stimulation was applied to the right inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula node of the salience network, which was targeted because our previous work had shown its importance to executive function. Stimulation was applied during performance of the Stop Signal Task, which assesses response inhibition, a key component of executive function. Structural MRI was used to assess the extent of brain injury, including diffusion MRI assessment of post-traumatic axonal injury. Functional MRI, which was simultaneously acquired to delivery of stimulation, assessed the effects of stimulation on cognitive network function. Anodal stimulation improved response inhibition in control participants, an effect that was not observed in the patient group. The extent of traumatic axonal injury within the salience network strongly influenced the behavioural response to stimulation. Increasing damage to the tract connecting the stimulated right inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula to the rest of the salience network was associated with reduced beneficial effects of stimulation. In addition, anodal stimulation normalized default mode network activation in patients with poor response inhibition, suggesting that stimulation modulates communication between the networks involved in supporting cognitive control. These results demonstrate an important principle: that white matter structure of the connections within a stimulated brain network influences the behavioural response to stimulation. This suggests that a personalized approach to non-invasive brain stimulation is likely to be necessary, with structural integrity of the targeted brain networks an important criterion for patient selection and an individualized approach to the selection of stimulation parameters.

Dataset Information

Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure