Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24855360›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychiatric disease and treatment2014

More female patients and fewer stimuli per session are associated with the short-term antidepressant properties of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS): a meta-analysis of 54 sham-controlled studies published between 1997-2013.

Karina Karolina Kedzior, Valeriya Azorina, Sarah Kim Reitz

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In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  11. Females have shorter scalp-to-cortex distances and receive stronger TMS electrical fields: Implications for clinical treatment.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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  13. Neuromodulation of Fear and Anxiety Circuits.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Karina Karolina KedziorSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Valeriya AzorinaSchool of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Sarah Kim ReitzSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) appears to have short-term antidepressant properties. The aim of the current study was to update our previous meta-analysis and to investigate factors associated with the antidepressant properties of rTMS.

methodFollowing a systematic literature search conducted in Medline and PsycInfo, N=14 sham-controlled, parallel design studies (published after 2008 to August 2013) that had utilized rTMS of the DLPFC in major depression were included in the current meta-analysis. The sensitivity and moderator analyses also included data from N=40 studies (published in 1997-2008) from our previous meta-analysis. The effect size (Cohen's d) in each study was the standardized difference in mean depression scores (on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale) from baseline to final (after last session) in rTMS compared to sham groups.

resultsAccording to a random-effects model with inverse-variance weights, depression scores were significantly reduced after rTMS compared to sham in studies published from 2008-2013 based on N=659 patients (overall mean weighted d=-0.42, 95% confidence interval: -0.66, -0.18, P=0.001). Combining studies from our past and current meta-analyses (published in 1997-2013; N=54) revealed that depression was significantly reduced after left-fast (>1 Hz), right-slow (≤1 Hz), and bilateral (or sequential) rTMS of DLPFC compared to sham. Significant antidepressant properties of rTMS were observed in studies with patients who were treatment resistant, unipolar (or bipolar), non-psychotic, medication-free (or started on antidepressants concurrently with rTMS). According to univariate meta-regressions, depression scores were significantly lower in studies with more female patients and fewer stimuli per session. There was little evidence that publication bias occurred in the analysis.

conclusionAccording to this study, the largest meta-analysis to date, short-term antidepressant properties of rTMS are independent of concurrent antidepressants and might depend on sex and the number of stimuli per session.

Indexed as

depressionDLPFCmeta-analysisrepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)sham-controlledsystematic review

Identifiers

PMID24855360
PMCPMC4019615

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.