A systematic review of comparative efficacy of treatments and controls for depression

Although previous meta-analyses have examined effects of antidepressants, psychotherapy, and alternative therapies for depression, the efficacy of these treatments alone and in combination has not been systematically compared. We hypothesized that the differences between approved depression treatmen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-07, Vol.7 (7), p.e41778-e41778
Main Authors: Khan, Arif, Faucett, James, Lichtenberg, Pesach, Kirsch, Irving, Brown, Walter A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active control
Acupuncture
Antidepressants
Antidepressive Agents - pharmacology
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Clinical trials
Combined Modality Therapy
Complementary Therapies
Depression (Mood disorder)
Depression - therapy
Double-Blind Method
Drug approval
Drug therapy
Effectiveness
Evaluation
FDA approval
Humans
Hypotheses
Intervention
Medical research
Medicine
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Patients
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Reduction
Regulatory agencies
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Studies
Systematic review
Treatment Outcome
Tricyclic antidepressants
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Summary:Although previous meta-analyses have examined effects of antidepressants, psychotherapy, and alternative therapies for depression, the efficacy of these treatments alone and in combination has not been systematically compared. We hypothesized that the differences between approved depression treatments and controls would be small. The authors first reviewed data from Food and Drug Administration Summary Basis of Approval reports of 62 pivotal antidepressant trials consisting of data from 13,802 depressed patients. This was followed by a systematic review of data from 115 published trials evaluating efficacy of psychotherapies and alternative therapies for depression. The published depression trials consisted of 10,310 depressed patients. We assessed the percentage symptom reduction experienced by the patients based on treatment assignment. Overall, antidepressants led to greater symptom reduction compared to placebo among both unpublished FDA data and published trials (F = 38.5, df = 239, p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0041778