ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Experimental Therapeutics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1628794
Herbal medicine and acupuncture for mild cognitive impairment: A retrospective study of 2,242 for older adults in Republic of Korea
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2Wirye Kyunghee Korean Medicine Clinic, Seungnam, Republic of Korea
- 3The Seoul Korean Medicine Association, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 4Sangji University, Wonju, Republic of Korea
- 5Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 6Balkeunnun Korean Medicine Clinic, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Introduction: Dementia prevalence increases with age, underscoring the importance of early intervention for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, standard treatment recommendations for MCI remain lacking. Herbal medicine and acupuncture have been proposed as potential alternatives. This study evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of these interventions in patients with MCI. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from a public health promotion program for community-dwelling older adults in Korea who received acupuncture, with or without herbal medicine, between 2021 and 2023. Feasibility was assessed by completion of acupuncture sessions and follow-up. Exact propensity score matching was performed using age, sex, comorbidities, depression scores, and health-related behaviors to compare herbal medicine add-on versus acupuncture only groups. Clinical outcomes included cognitive function (the Cognitive Impairment Screening Test [CIST] and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]) and depression (Geriatric Depression Scale–Short Form [GDS-SF]). Results: Of 5,525 participants, 4,623 received acupuncture with or without herbal medicine. Feasibility was high, with 86.4% completing planned acupuncture sessions; among these, 93.8% also received herbal medicine. Loss-to-follow-up rate was lower in the herbal medicine add-on (4.1%) than in the acupuncture-only (12.1%). After matching, 2,242 participants were included (2,044 herbal medicine add-on and 198 acupuncture-only). Both groups showed significant improvements in CIST, MoCA, and GDS-SF scores, with the herbal medicine add-on group demonstrating significantly greater cognitive improvement in the CIST (coefficient: 0.58; 95% CI, 0.10–1.08). Conclusions: Herbal medicine combined with acupuncture appeared feasible and potentially effective for managing MCI, supporting its practicality in community settings. However, its therapeutic benefits need to be further validated through rigorously designed randomized controlled trials. Long-term studies are warranted to confirm these findings and clarify their role in dementia prevention
Keywords: cognitive dysfunction, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture Therapy, Propensity Score
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Suh, Lee, Suh, Park, Park and Chung. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sun-Yong Chung, lovepwr@khu.ac.kr
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