| Disease | SIX-WEEKS RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, PARALLEL-GROUP TRIAL, INVOLVING COMMUNITY-DWELLING VOLUNTEER MEN (N=98) AND WOMEN (N=132) OLDER THAN 60 YEAS WITH MINI-MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION SCORES GREATER THAN 26 AND IN GENERALLY GOOD
HEALTH. PARTICIPANTS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO RECEIVE GINKGO, 40 MG 3 TIMES PER DAY (N=115), OR MATCHING PLACEBO (N=115). STANDARDIZED NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS OF VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL LEARNING AND MEMORY, ATTENTION AND CONCENTRATION, NAMING
AND EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE, PARTICIPANT SELF-REPORT ON A MEMORY QUESTIONNAIRE, AND CAREGIVER CLINICAL GLOBAL IMPRESSION OF CHANGE AS COMPLETED BY A COMPANION. TWO HUNDRED THREE PARTICIPANTS (88%) COMPLETED THE PROTOCOL. ANALYSIS OF THE MODIFIED
INTENT-TO-TREAT POPULATION (ALL 219 PARTICIPANTS RETURNING FOR EVALUATION) INDICATED THAT THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENENCES BETWEEN TREATMENT GROUPS ON ANY OUTCOME MEASURE. ANALYSIS OF THE FULLY EVALUABLE POPULATION (THE 203 WHO COMPLIED
WITH TREATMENT AND RETURNED FOR EVALUATION) ALSO INDICATED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES FOR ANY OUTCOME MEASURE. THE RESULTS OF THIS 6-WEEK STUDY INDICATE THAT GINKGO DID NOT FACILITATE PERFORMANCE ON STANDARD NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS OF LEARNING,
MEMORY, ATTENTION, AND CONCENTRATION OR NAMING AND VEBAL FLUENCY IN ELDERLY ADULTS WITHOUT COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT. THE GINKGO GROUP ALSO DID NOT DIFER FROM THE CONTROL GROUP IN TERMS OF SELF-REPORTED MEMORY FUNCTION OR GLOBAL RATING BY SPOUSES,
FRIENDS, AND RELATIVES. THESE DATA SUGGEST THAT WHEN TAKEN FOLLOWING THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS, GINKGO PROVIDES NO MEASURABLE BENEFIT IN MEMORY OR RELATED COGNITIVE FUNCTION TO ADULTS WITH HEALTHY COGNITIVE FUNCTION. |