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Updated: Apr 10, 2026
Author Spotlight: Exploring Acupuncture in Alzheimer's Research from Thread-Embedding Techniques to Clinical Trials
Published on: May 10, 2024
Cognitive Improvement during Treatment for Mild Alzheimer's Disease with a Chinese Herbal Formula: A Randomized
Yulian Zhang1, Cuiru Lin1, Linlin Zhang2
1Department of Acupuncture and Cerebropathy, Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China.
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.
