Effects of Anti-Parkinsonian Drugs on Verbal Fluency in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Network Meta-Analysis

Verbal fluency impairment is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), but the effect of drugs on verbal fluency in PD patients has not been comprehensively evaluated. We conducted a network meta-analysis based on four online databases to compare the effect of drugs on verbal fluency in PD patients. This study was performed and reported according to PRISMA-NMA guidelines. In total, 6 out of 3707 articles (three RCTS and three cross-sectional studies) covering eight drug regimens were included (five for letter fluency, five for semantic fluency). In terms of letter fluency, the ranking of the overall efficacy of included drug regimens was: levodopa, levodopa combined with pramipexole, rotigotine, cabergoline, pramipexole, pergolide, but no drug regimen presented a significant advantage over the others. In terms of semantic fluency, the ranking of the overall efficacy of included drug regimens was: rotigotine, levodopa, cabergoline, pergolide, pramipexole, among which, levodopa alone (SMD = 0.93, 95%CI: 0.28–1.59) and rotigotine alone (SMD = 1.18, 95%CI: 0.28–2.09) were statistically superior to pramipexole, while no significant difference was identified between all the other drug regimens. Levodopa and rotigotine seem to be more appropriate choices for PD patients with verbal fluency impairment. Further study is needed to illustrate the efficacy of drugs on verbal fluency in PD patients.