Light therapy in non-seasonal depression: An update meta-analysis.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine the efficacy of light therapy in treating non-seasonal depression through a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Results Summary
The meta-analysis found that light therapy was significantly more effective than comparative treatments in reducing depressive symptoms, with a mild to moderate treatment effect, though the quality of evidence was low.
Population
Individuals with non-seasonal depression (1120 participants across 23 RCTs).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
light therapy | decrease | seasonal affective disorder | - | - | has been demonstrated | #1 |
light therapy | neutral | non-seasonal depression | - | - | remains unclear | #2 |
light therapy | decrease | non-seasonal depression | 1120 participants | - | was significantly more effective than comparative treatments | #3 |
light therapy | decrease | depressive symptoms | - | mild to moderate | has a statistically significant mild to moderate treatment effect in reducing | #4 |
The effect of light therapy in treating seasonal affective disorder has been demonstrated amongst previous studies. However, the effect of light therapy in treating non-seasonal depression remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the efficacy of light therapy in non-seasonal depression. We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the PubMed, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Chinese Biomedical Database up to February 2020. The pooled post-trial standardized mean difference in depression scores with corresponding 95% confidence intervals was calculated to evaluate the efficacy of light therapy in non-seasonal depression. A total of 23 RCTs with 1120 participants were included. The meta-analysis demonstrated the light therapy was significantly more effective than comparative treatments. Subgroup analyses revealed that none of the factors explained the significantly heterogeneity. Light therapy has a statistically significant mild to moderate treatment effect in reducing depressive symptoms, can be used as a clinical therapy in treating non-seasonal depression. But the quality of evidence is still low, more well-designed studies with larger sample size and high quality are needed to confirm the efficiency of light therapy in treating non-seasonal depression.