Table 1. Characteristics of included studies on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for Alzheimer’s disease in the meta-analysis.
| Study | Number of participants (stim/sham) |
Gender (male/female) | Mean age (years) |
Mean education (years) |
Mean baseline MMSE |
Stimulation target |
Stimulation protocol | Sham stimulation |
Outcome measures | Follow-up | Adverse effects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotelli 2011 | 5/5 | Not available |
72.8 | 5.6 | 16.1 | L DLPFC | 20Hz, 100% RMT, 2000 pulses per session, 10 sessions over 2 weeks | Sham coil | MMSE IADL |
8 weeks | No |
| Ahmed 2012 | 30/15 | 16/29 | 67.6 | Not available |
13.8 | Bilateral DLPFC |
(1) 20 Hz, 90% RMT, 2000 pulses per session, 5 daily sessions (2) 1 Hz, 100% RMT, 2000 pulses per session, 5 daily sessions |
Coil away from the head |
MMSE GDS IADL |
1 and 3 months |
No |
| Rabey 2013 | 7/8 | 10/5 | 74.1 | Not available |
22.0 | Broca, Wernicke, L/R DLPFC, L/R pSAC |
10 Hz, 90–110% RMT, 400pulses for 2 brain sites and 500 pulses for 1 brain site per session, 5 sessions per week for 6 weeks and 2 sessions per week for 3 months | Sham coil | ADAS-Cog CGIC |
No | No |
| Wu 2015 | 26/26 | 21/31 | 71.7 | 11.5 | 15.3 | L DLPFC | 20Hz, 80% RMT, 1200 pulses per session, 20 sessions over 4 weeks | Coils turned 180 degrees |
ADAS-Cog | No | Mild extrapyramidal reactions, headache |
| Lee 2016 | 18/8 | 15/11 | 71.6 | 9.9 | 22.5 | Broca, Wernicke, L/R DLPFC, L/R pSAC |
10 Hz, 90–110% RMT, 400pulses for 3 brain sites per session, 30 sessions over 6 weeks | Sham coil | ADAS-Cog MMSE GDS CGIC |
6 weeks | Mild headache, fatigability |
stim, stimulation group; sham, sham group; R, right; L, left; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; pSAC, parietal somatosensory association cortex; RMT, resting motor threshold; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; ADAS-Cog, Alzhermer Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale; IADL, Instrumental Daily Living Activity; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; CGIC, Clinician’s Global Impression of Change