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Antidepressant efficacy and immune effects of bilateral theta burst stimulation monotherapy in major depression: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study
- Source :
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 88:144-150
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Inflammation theory has been consolidated by accumulating evidence, and many studies have suggested that the peripheral cytokine levels could be biomarkers for disease status and treatment outcome in major depressive disorder (MDD). Theta burst stimulation (TBS), a new form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for MDD, has been demonstrated to improve depression via modulating dysfunctional neural network or hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis hyperactivities in MDD. However, there is lack of exploratory studies investigating its effect on serum inflammatory cytokines. Here, we aimed to investigate the antidepressant efficacy of bilateral TBS monotherapy and its effects on the serum cytokine levels in MDD. We conducted a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial, with 53 MDD patients who exhibited no responses to at least one adequate antidepressant treatment for the prevailing episode assigned randomly to one of two groups: bilateral TBS monotherapy (n = 27) or sham stimulation (n = 26). The TBS treatment period was 22 days. Blood samples from 31 study subjects were obtained for analyses. The bilateral TBS group exhibited significantly greater decreases in depression scores than the sham group at week 4 (56.5% vs. 33.1%; p0.001 [effect size (Cohen ’ s d) = 1.00]) and during the 20-week follow-up periods. Significantly more responders were also found at week 4 (70.3% vs. 23.1%, p = 0.001) and during the 20-week follow-up periods. However, we did not detect any significant effects of TBS on the cytokine panels or any correlations between improvement in depressive symptoms and changes in serum inflammatory markers. Our findings provided the first evidence that the antidepressant efficacy of bilateral TBS monotherapy might not work via immune-modulating mechanisms.
- Subjects :
- Depressive Disorder, Major
Antidepressant efficacy
Depression
Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
business.industry
Immunology
Stimulation
Immune effects
Pharmacology
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Antidepressive Agents
Double blind
Theta burst
Behavioral Neuroscience
Treatment Outcome
Text mining
Double-Blind Method
Humans
Medicine
business
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 08891591
- Volume :
- 88
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4a5391dffed911794f6e15e90aace999