Ginkgo biloba did not prevent dementia or Alzheimer disease in elderly people
S T DeKosky
Dr S T DeKosky, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA; dekosky@virginia.edu
QUESTION
Does Ginkgo biloba reduce incident dementia and Alzheimer disease in elderly people with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment?
METHODS
Design:
randomised placebo controlled trial (Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory [GEM] study). ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00010803.
Allocation:
unclear allocation concealment.*
Blinding:
blinded (patients, clinicians, and outcome assessors).*
Follow-up period:
median 6.1 years.
Setting:
5 academic medical centres in the USA.
Participants:
3069 participants >75 years of age (mean age 79 y, 54% men) who had normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (impaired at ⩽10th percentile of Cardiovascular Health Study normative data on 2 of 10 neuropsychological tests and Clinical Dementia Rating …
