THE EFFECT OF GINKGO BILOBA AND COGNITION IN ALZHEIMER’S PATIENT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META ANALYSIS

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer Disease (AD) is a major cause of dementia in the world, which is caused by progressive loss of cognitive activity and few treatment interventions. Ginkgo Biloba is another traditional natural therapy that has suggested as potential neuroprotective molecule because of its Vaso regulatory effects and antioxidant capacity. The objective of the proposed systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess whether Ginkgo Biloba can improve cognitive in people with AD. Methods: The systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane library was done to study articles published between January 2012 and May 2025. A total of twelve studies were found to match the pre-determined inclusion criteria. Cognitive outcome data- memory, attention and executive functions were extracted along with adverse events and treatment discontinuation. There was the use of a random-effects model to estimate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs). The heterogeneity was calculated with I 2 and Cochran Q test, publication bias with Egger test. The subgroup and sensitivity analysis were done based on age and severity of disease. Results: Ginkgo Biloba was related to a notable mental boost in all the published studies. Memory and attention pooled ORs were greater than 1.30, which proved them superior to placebo. Patients aged more than 70 years and mild AD showed the highest improvements. Side effects were mostly mild, and occurrences were also low with minimal cases of treatment cessation. The degree of heterogeneity was moderate with a low level of bias in the publication. The results were also robust as checked through sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: Ginkgo Biloba has important effects as a treatment agent in improving the cognitive performance of Alzheimer patients, especially those with early stage of the disease and the aged. It has a favorable side effect and shows potential as an addon therapy. It would be prudent to carry out more long-term research to validate these benefits and to make therapeutic protocols as effective as possible.