Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29533819›Full record

Trial reportEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2018

Randomized trial of transcranial alternating current stimulation for treatment of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.

Juliann M Mellin, Sankaraleengam Alagapan, Caroline Lustenberger, Courtney E Lugo, Morgan L Alexander, John H Gilmore, L Fredrik Jarskog, Flavio Fröhlich

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
57citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
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

57 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.

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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

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Juliann M MellinDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Sankaraleengam AlagapanDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Caroline LustenbergerDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Courtney E LugoDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Morgan L AlexanderDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
John H GilmoreDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
L Fredrik JarskogDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Flavio FröhlichDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States; Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States; Carolina Center for Neurostimulation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Electronic address: flavio_frohlich@med.unc.edu.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS)UL1TR001111 · NCATS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI BUSE, JOHN BERNARD, CAREY, TIMOTHY S · 2013 to 2017
$43.9M
Targeting Auditory Hallucinations with Alternating Current StimulationR33MH105574 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI FROHLICH, FLAVIO, JARSKOG, LARS FREDRIK · 2017 to 2019
$816k
Targeting Auditory Hallucinations with Alternating Current StimulationR21MH105574 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI FROHLICH, FLAVIO, JARSKOG, LARS FREDRIK · 2015 to 2016
$478k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001111NIMH NIH HHS R21 MH105574NIMH NIH HHS R33 MH105574
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundApproximately 30% of patients with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations that are refractory to antipsychotic medications. Here, we evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) that we hypothesized would improve auditory hallucination symptoms by enhancing synchronization between the frontal and temporo-parietal areas of the left hemisphere.

method22 participants were randomized to one of three arms and received twice daily, 20 min sessions of sham, 10 Hz 2 mA peak-to-peak tACS, or 2 mA tDCS over the course of 5 consecutive days. Symptom improvement was assessed using the Auditory Hallucination Rating Scale (AHRS) as the primary outcome measure. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) were secondary outcomes.

resultsPrimary and secondary behavioral outcomes were not significantly different between the three arms. However, effect size analyses show that tACS had the greatest effect based on the auditory hallucinations scale for the week of stimulation (1.31 for tACS; 1.06 and 0.17, for sham and tDCS, respectively). Effect size analysis for the secondary outcomes revealed heterogeneous results across measures and stimulation conditions.

conclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first clinical trial of tACS for the treatment of symptoms of a psychiatric condition. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better understand the effect of tACS on auditory hallucinations.

Indexed as

HallucinationsSchizophreniaTranscranial Direct Current StimulationAdultDouble-Blind MethodFemaleFrontal LobeHumansMaleMiddle AgedParietal LobeSymptom AssessmentTemporal LobeTreatment OutcomeAuditory hallucinationsSchizophreniaTranscranial alternating current stimulation

Identifiers

PMID29533819
PMCPMC5994368
OpenAlexW2789915383

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.