Efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in improving and maintaining daily living activities in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review of literature

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Cognitive Rehabilitation in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease through a systematic review. Methods The survey of articles was done by MEDLINE (accessed via PubMed), EMBASE and LILACS, following the Cochrane Collaboration and the PRISMA recommendation, using the following eligibility criteria: randomized clinical trials that presented the use of cognitive rehabilitation as non-pharmacological intervention in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, with at least one intervention group and one comparison group. Results Six randomized controlled trials were selected for this review. In all of the studies analyzed, improvement in the performance of patients in the assessment instruments was observed, mainly in relation to the performance of activities of daily living. Conclusion Cognitive rehabilitation is able to prolong the independence of the patient in performing activities of daily living and generate functional and structural changes. As a consequence of the finding of few studies that met the eligibility criteria, we also verified the need for more controlled studies and greater application control, considering the high risk of bias in the studies used.