RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Therapeutic benefits of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments for depressive symptoms after traumatic brain injury: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
JF Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
JO JPN
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP E196
OP E207
DO 10.1503/jpn.190122
VO 46
IS 1
A1 Cheng, Yu-Shian
A1 Tseng, Ping-Tao
A1 Wu, Yi-Cheng
A1 Tu, Yu-Kang
A1 Wu, Ching-Kuan
A1 Hsu, Chih-Wei
A1 Lei, Wei-Te
A1 Li, Dian-Jeng
A1 Chen, Tien-Yu
A1 Stubbs, Brendon
A1 Carvalho, Andre F.
A1 Liang, Chih-Sung
A1 Yeh, Ta-Chuan
A1 Chu, Che-Sheng
A1 Chen, Yen-Wen
A1 Lin, Pao-Yen
A1 Wu, Ming-Kung
A1 Sun, Cheuk-Kwan
YR 2021
UL http://jpn.ca/content/46/1/E196.abstract
AB Background Depression is a common morbidity after traumatic brain injury. This network meta-analysis investigated the efficacy and tolerability of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions for depression after traumatic brain injury.Methods We extracted randomized controlled trials examining pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic interventions with placebo- or active-controlled designs from PubMed, the Cochrane Library and ScienceDirect, from inception to October 30, 2018. We based study selection and extraction of a pre-defined list of variables on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and conducted meta-analysis procedures using random effects modelling. Primary outcomes were changes in depressive symptom severity after pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic treatment; the secondary outcome was tolerability, reflected in overall patient dropout rates.Results Our analysis of 27 randomized controlled trials (10 pharmacologic, total n = 483, mean age = 37.9 yr; 17 nonpharmacologic, total n = 1083, mean age = 38.0 yr) showed that methylphenidate had significantly superior efficacy compared to placebo or control (standardized mean difference −0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] −1.49 to −0.33). Sertraline was associated with significantly lower tolerability (i.e., a higher dropout rate) compared to placebo or control (odds ratio 2.65, 95% CI 1.27 to 5.54). No nonpharmacologic treatment was more effective than the others, and we found no significant differences in tolerability (i.e., dropout rates) among the nonpharmacologic treatments.Limitations Heterogeneity in participant characteristics (e.g., comorbidities), study designs (e.g., trial duration) and psychopathology assessment tools, as well as small trial numbers for some treatment arms, could have been confounders.Conclusion The present network meta-analysis suggests that methylphenidate might be the best pharmacologic intervention for depressive symptoms related to traumatic brain injury. None of the nonpharmacologic interventions was associated with better improvement in depressive symptoms than the others or than control conditions. None of the pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic treatments had inferior tolerability compared to placebo or controls except for sertraline, which had significantly lower tolerability than placebo.