Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29985400›Full record

SynthesisScientific reports2018

The effectiveness of virtual reality based interventions for symptoms of anxiety and depression: A meta-analysis.

Liviu A Fodor, Carmen D Coteț, Pim Cuijpers, Ștefan Szamoskozi, Daniel David, Ioana A Cristea

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04429945 (Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Outcomes in Patients With Stroke), which is not on this map. Cited by 112 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
112citing papers in PubMed, 14 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.

NCT04429945 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2021, after this paper: background citation

Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Outcomes in Patients With Stroke: A Pilot Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorVA Office of Research and DevelopmentRan2021 to 2022Enrolled10ConditionsStrokeArmsVirtual Reality
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

112 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  15. Virtual reality hypnosis during protective isolation: a parallel group randomized trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
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52 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

6 authors.

Liviu A FodorInternational Institute for The Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Carmen D CotețDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii Street 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Pim CuijpersDepartment of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ștefan SzamoskoziDepartment of Applied Psychology, December 21 1989 Street 128, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Daniel DavidDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii Street 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Ioana A CristeaDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii Street 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. ioana.cristea@ubbcluj.ro.ORCID 0000-0002-9854-7076

Funding

Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Scientific Research, Development and Innovation Funding) PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-1316
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We report a meta-analysis of virtual reality (VR) interventions for anxiety and depression outcomes, as well as treatment attrition. We included randomized controlled trials comparing VR interventions, alone or in combination, to control conditions or other active psychological interventions. Effects sizes (Hedges' g) for anxiety and depression outcomes, as post-test and follow-up, were pooled with a random-effects model. Drop-outs were compared using odds ratio (OR) with a Mantel-Haenszel model. We included 39 trials (52 comparisons). Trial risk of bias was unclear for most domains, and high for incomplete outcome data. VR-based therapies were more effective than control at post-test for anxiety, g = 0.79, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.02, and depression, g = 0.73, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.21, but not for treatment attrition, OR = 1.34, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.89. Heterogeneity was high and there was consistent evidence of small study effects. There were no significant differences between VR-based and other active interventions. VR interventions outperformed control conditions for anxiety and depression but did not improve treatment drop-out. High heterogeneity, potential publication bias, predominant use of waitlist controls, and high or uncertain risk of bias of most trials question the reliability of these effects.

Indexed as

Virtual RealityAnxiety DisordersDepressive DisorderHumansOdds RatioRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID29985400
PMCPMC6037699

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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.