ArticleGeneral psychiatry2026
Effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on the improvement of cognitive function in older patients with schizophrenia: A randomised controlled study.
Article in General psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
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Abstract
Aims: To investigate the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) in improving cognitive function in older inpatients with schizophrenia. Design: Randomised controlled trial. Setting: Cognitive improvement in hospitalised older patients with schizophrenia in Shanghai. Participants: Fifty-one older inpatients with schizophrenia in Shanghai Mental Health Center. Intervention: The taVNS electrodes were placed on the skin with vagus nerve distribution in the taVNS group, whereas the electrodes were placed on the skin without vagus nerve distribution in the sham taVNS group. taVNS parameters included 25 Hz, the maximum tolerated current intensity (apparatus maximum load current ≤ 6 mA) and one 30-min session per day for 2 weeks, for a total of 10 interventions. Measurements: The primary outcome was a neurocognitive assessment. Safety was the secondary outcome measure. After each treatment session, adverse reactions were assessed using the self-administered Adverse Reaction Assessment Scale. Four subtests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery were further considered: reaction time (RTI), paired associate learning (PAL), multitasking test (MTT) and spatial working memory (SWM). Results: The time and interaction effects of between-group search errors were statistically significant ( Conclusions: taVNS may have the potential to improve SWM in older patients with schizophrenia.
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Registered trials
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