Ginkgo biloba for the improvement of cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial

¹ Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, OR, USA
² Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
³ Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
⁴ Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
⁵ Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, OR, USA and Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Objectives

To determine if Ginkgo biloba (GB) improves the cognitive performance of subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of GB, 120 mg twice a day or placebo for 12 weeks. The primary outcomes were: the long delay free recall from the California Verbal Learning Test-II; the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; the Controlled Oral Word Association Test; the Symbol Digit Modalities Test; Useful Field of View Test; and the color-word interference condition from the Stroop Color and Word Test.

Results

On completion, the GB group (n=20) was 4.5 seconds (95% confidence interval (CI) (7.6, 0.9), P=0.015) faster than the placebo group (n=18) on the color-word interference condition of the Stroop test. Subjects who were more impaired at baseline experienced more improvement with GB (treatment*baseline interaction, F=8.10, P=0.008). We found no differences on the other neuropsychological tests. Subjects on GB reported fewer cognitive difficulties in the Retrospective Memory Scale of the Perceived Deficits Questionnaire than subjects on placebo (1.5 points, 95% CI (2.6, 0.3), P=0.016). No serious drug related side-effects occurred and GB did not alter platelet function assays.

Conclusion

Overall, GB did not show a statistically significant improvement in cognitive function. A treatment effect trend, limited to the Stroop test, suggests that GB may have an effect on cognitive domains assessed by this test, such as susceptibility to interference and mental flexibility.

Key Words: cognition, double-blind method, Ginkgo biloba , multiple sclerosis, neuropsychological tests, placebos, quality of life, randomized controlled trials

First published on January 29, 2007, doi:10.1177/1352458506071213

Multiple Sclerosis 2007;13:376.

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2007


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