Efficacy of Direct Current Stimulation in Major Depression
A new meta-analysis presented at the 2015 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry has clarified the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in major depression. TDCS is a treatment in which electrodes deliver a steady low level of electrical stimulation to the brain. The meta-analysis presented by Andre Brunoni and colleagues used individual patient data from six recent studies comparing tDCS treatment to a sham treatment, totaling 289 patients. TDCS treatment was superior to the sham control in terms of antidepressant response (34% to 19%), remission rates (23.1% to 12.7%), and improvement in depression.
After adjusting for confounding factors, the researchers found that patients who had failed to respond to previous treatments were less likely to respond well to tDCS than other patients. They also found that higher doses of tDCS (in terms of current density, duration, and number of sessions) predicted a better response than lower doses.
