SynthesisDrugs & aging2015
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of treatment effect.
Synthesis in Drugs & aging, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 187 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alzheimer's Disease and Inflammation Research: A Systematic Bibliometric Review and Network Visualization of the Published Literature Between 2000 and 2023.Recent advances in inflammation & allergy drug discovery · 2026Pooled it
- Relationship of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review of pre-clinical studies.Clinical oral investigations · 2021Pooled it
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use and risk of Parkinson disease: A dose-response meta-analysis.Medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Low-Dose Aspirin Use and Cognitive Function in Older Age: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2017Pooled it
- Minocycline at 2 Different Dosages vs Placebo for Patients With Mild Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA neurology · 2020Trial
- Structural Modifications of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): New Horizons in Antimicrobial Drug Discovery.Archiv der Pharmazie · 2026Review
- Immunotherapies for risk reduction in age-associated neurodegenerative diseases: impact of sex and treatment duration.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory therapies are associated with reduced risk of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases: impact of sex and treatment duration.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Bidirectional Interplay Between Microglia and Mast Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Ibuprofen inhibits human sweet taste and glucose detection implicating an additional mechanism of metabolic disease risk reduction.British journal of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Long-Term Exposure to Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Medication in Relation to Dementia Risk.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- The anti-inflammatory drug Montelukast ameliorates cognitive deficits by rescuing the inflammatory levels in young AD animal models.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Hallmarks of aging in age-related macular degeneration and age-related neurological disorders: novel insights into common mechanisms and clinical relevance.Eye (London, England) · 2025Review
- Mechanisms of comorbidity between Alzheimer's disease and pain.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Review
- The manipulator behind "Scissors": γ -secretase and its modulators in Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- Dulaglutide Alleviates Alzheimer's Disease by Regulating Microglial Polarization and Neurogenic Activity.Combinatorial chemistry & high throughput screening · 2025Article
- Sentinels of neuroinflammation: the crucial role of myeloid cells in the pathogenesis of gliomas and neurodegenerative diseases.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2024Review
- Alzheimer's Disease, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes: Focus on Common Neuroglial Dysfunctions (Critical Review and New Data on Human Brain and Models).Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Microglial modulation as a therapeutic strategy in Alzheimer's disease: Focus on microglial preconditioning approaches.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2024Review
- Differential effect of an evolving amyloid and tau pathology on brain phospholipids and bioactive lipid mediators in rat models of Alzheimer-like pathology.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2024Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the cause of more than two-thirds of all dementia cases. Although there is no effective treatment against this disorder, its association with neuroinflammation suggests that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) might represent a potential therapeutic option.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of NSAIDs in the treatment of AD using a meta-analysis approach.
methodsMEDLINE, Web of Science, Science Direct, and the Cochrane Library were used to search all the randomized controlled trials that have evaluated the efficacy of NSAIDs as a treatment for AD (up to 1 October 2014). The overall effect of NSAIDs versus placebo was determined using a random effects model meta-analysis where we compared changes (i.e., mean differences pre- vs. post-treatment) between the two conditions in test scores indicative of cognition, disease severity, and related outcomes.
resultsSeven studies were finally included in the meta-analysis. Diclofenac/misoprostol, nimesulide, naproxen, rofecoxib, ibuprofen, indomethacin, tarenflurbil, and celecoxib were the NSAIDs used in these reports. The results of the AD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog), the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale sum-of-boxes (CDR-SOB), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) showed no statistical or clinical significance of NSAIDs treatment compared with placebo, i.e., mean differences of -0.24 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) -1.04 to 0.57; P = 0.52), -0.07 (95% CI -0.7 to 0.56; P = 0.82), and 0.35 (95% CI -0.34 to 1.04; P = 0.32), respectively.
conclusionCurrent preliminary evidence suggests no beneficial effect of NSAIDs on cognition or overall AD severity. Thus, although more research is needed in the field, the evidence available does not support the use of NSAIDs for AD treatment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.