Using rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) to improve gait disturbance in Parkinson's disease (PD) is an available treatment option, yet a consensus on its effectiveness remains controversial. We summarized the effects of RAS on gait, functional activity and quality of life in PD patients through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, and Cochrane Library databases were initially searched to identify relevant literature up to August 2021. Next, the methodological quality of eligible comparative studies was assessed by the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale. The treatment effects to clinical outcome in relation to gait, motor activities, and quality of life were analyzed.

A total of 18 studies consisted of 774 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Comparing with the control group, RAS had significantly increased stride length (p < 0.001), accelerated gait speed (p < 0.001), reduced the occurrence of freezing events during walking (P = 0.009), achieved an improvement in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II (P = 0.030), UPDRS-III (P < 0.001) and Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (PDQL) (p = 0.009) scores over an interval of 1–26 months.

In this meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials, we have demonstrated that RAS improves the general motor functions (UPDRS-III), particularly in gait, mobility and quality of life, in patients with Parkinson's disease.

使用节律性听觉刺激 (RAS) 来改善帕金森病 (PD) 的步态障碍是一种可用的治疗选择，但对其有效性的共识仍存在争议。我们通过系统回顾和荟萃分析总结了 RAS 对 PD 患者步态、功能活动和生活质量的影响。

最初搜索了 PubMed、Embase、Web of Science、Medline 和 Cochrane 图书馆数据库，以确定截至 2021 年 8 月的相关文献。接下来，通过物理治疗证据数据库量表评估合格比较研究的方法学质量。分析了与步态、运动活动和生活质量相关的临床结果的治疗效果。

该荟萃分析共纳入 18 项研究，包括 774 名受试者。与对照组相比，RAS 步幅显着增加（p< 0.001)，加速步态速度 (p< 0.001)，减少行走过程中僵硬事件的发生 (磷= 0.009)，统一帕金森病评定量表 (UPDRS) II (磷= 0.030），UPDRS-III（磷< 0.001) 和帕金森病生活质量问卷 (PDQL) (p= 0.009）在 1-26 个月的时间间隔内得分。

在这项对 18 项随机对照试验的荟萃分析中，我们证明 RAS 改善了帕金森病患者的一般运动功能 (UPDRS-III)，特别是在步态、活动能力和生活质量方面。