Cognition-oriented treatments (COTs) – commonly categorized as cognitive training, cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive stimulation – are promising approaches for the prevention of cognitive and functional decline in older adults. We conducted a systematic overview of meta-analyses investigating the efficacy of COTs on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes in older adults with or without cognitive impairment. Review quality was assessed by AMSTAR 2. We identified 51 eligible reviews, 46 of which were included in the quantitative synthesis. The confidence ratings were “moderate” for 9 (20%), “low” for 13 (28%) and “critically low” for 24 (52%) of the 46 reviews. While most reviews provided pooled effect estimates for objective cognition, non-cognitive outcomes of potential relevance were more sparsely reported. The mean effect estimate on cognition was small for cognitive training in healthy older adults (Hedge’s g 0.32, range 0.13-0.64, 19 reviews), mild cognitive impairment (Hedge’s g 0.40, range 0.32-0.60, five reviews), and dementia (Hedge’s g 0.38, range 0.09-1.16, seven reviews), and small for cognitive stimulation in dementia (Hedge’s g 0.36, range 0.26-0.44, five reviews). Meta-regression revealed that higher AMSTAR score was associated with larger effect estimates for cognitive outcomes. The available evidence supports the efficacy of COTs improving cognitive performance in older adults. The extent to which such effects are of clinical value remains unclear, due to the scarcity of high-quality evidence and heterogeneity in reported findings. An important avenue for future trials is to include relevant non-cognitive outcomes in a more consistent way and, for meta-analyses in the field, there is a need for better adherence to methodological standards.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42018084490.Gavelin, H.M., Lampit, A., Hallock, H. et al. Cognition-Oriented Treatments for Older Adults: a Systematic Overview of Systematic Reviews. Neuropsychol Rev (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-020-09434-8
Overview of systematic reviews with meta-analyses on acupuncture in post-stroke cognitive impairment and depression management
