SynthesisBrain and behavior2020
Adjunctive bright light therapy for treating bipolar depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Brain and behavior, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Managing Sleep in Bipolar Disorder: An Overview of Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions.Bipolar disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Transdiagnostic effects of combined sleep-circadian interventions on depressive symptoms and sleep outcomes in adults with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Adjunctive bright light therapy for treating bipolar depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Brain and behavior · 2020Pooled it
- Impact of light therapy on rotating night shift workers: the EuRhythDia study.Acta diabetologica · 2022Trial
- Bright Light Therapy in Psychiatric Disorders: Mechanisms, Clinical Procedures and Evidence.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Retinal light perception and biological rhythms: The role of light in sleep and mood from an ophthalmic perspective (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2026Review
- Bipolar disorder.Lancet (London, England) · 2025Review
- Selecting, implementing and evaluating control and placebo conditions in light therapy and light-based interventions.Annals of medicine · 2024Review
- Towards an evidence-based integrative lighting score: a proposed multi-level approach.Annals of medicine · 2024Review
- Role of adjunctive nonpharmacological strategies for treatment of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder.World journal of psychiatry · 2023Review
- Does circadian dysrhythmia drive the switch into high- or low-activation states in bipolar I disorder?Bipolar disorders · 2023Review
- Antidepressant effect of bright light therapy on patients with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- 35 years of light treatment for mental disorders in the Netherlands.Annals of medicine · 2023Review
- Article
- Healthy Dwelling: Design of Biophilic Interior Environments Fostering Self-Care Practices for People Living with Migraines, Chronic Pain, and Depression.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Therapeutic Interventions to Mitigate Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress-Induced Damage in Patients with Bipolar Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Circadian disruption and human health.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2021Review
- Bright light therapy-induced improvements of mood, cognitive functions and cerebellar functional connectivity in subthreshold depression: A randomized controlled trial.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesBright light therapy (BLT) was reported as an effective adjunctive treatment option for bipolar disorder. Previous meta-analytic study showed that augmentation treatment with light therapy significantly decreased the severity of bipolar depression. However, most of included studies were case-control studies and several of them focused on BLT that was provided in combination with sleep deprivation therapy.
methodsIn this meta-analysis, we used several electronic databases to search the studies and included only randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies to compare BLT with control experimental groups for treating bipolar depression with pharmacological treatment to clarify the adjunctive efficacy of BLT. We searched the databases of EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Clinicaltrials.gov for studies published in English until September 19, 2019. Two researchers conducted the literature screening, data extraction, and methodological quality assessment independently. The main outcome was the response rate and remission rate. We used the Review Manager 5.3 Software for the meta-analysis.
resultsFour trials with a total of 190 participants (intervention: 94, control: 96) with bipolar depression were evaluated to gauge the effects of light therapy. The meta-analysis showed risk ratios of 1.78 (95% CI 1.24-2.56, p = .002; I
conclusionsBright light therapy is an effective treatment for reducing depression symptoms among patients with bipolar depression.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.