Effectiveness of electrical vestibular nerve stimulation as adjunctive therapy to improve the cognitive functions in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: The present study was undertaken to observe the effectiveness of electrical vestibular stimulation in improving cognitive functions in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04450550). 30 cases of PD, including both males and females were recruited in the study by convenient sampling after obtaining written informed consent. After recruiting, the participants were randomly assigned into two groups. The control group (n=15) received placebo stimulation whereas the intervention group (n=15) received electrical vestibular stimulation administered for 12 weeks. Auditory, visual reaction time and spatial and verbal memory were recorded before and after 6 weeks and after 12 weeks of intervention and compared.

Results: There was a significant improvement in both auditory and visual reaction time of right and left-hand responses. Also, significant improvement was observed in both the spatial and verbal memory of the patients.

Conclusions: There was a significant improvement in the auditory and visual reaction time and spatial and verbal memory in the participants after the electrical vestibular nerve stimulation administration. No side effects were reported by the study participants and they have expressed willingness to continue the intervention after the study period also. The study recommends further detailed studies with a higher sample size to adopt electrical vestibular nerve stimulation as adjunctive therapy in the management of Parkinson's disease.