Trial reportBMJ open2020
Effects of bright light therapy for depression during pregnancy: a randomised, double-blind controlled trial.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Bright Light Therapy on Perinatal Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Effet de la luminothérapie sur la dépression périnatale: une revue systématique et une méta-analyse.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of light therapy on depression and sleep in women during pregnancy or the postpartum period: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Circadian light therapy and light dose for depressed young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of bright light therapy on sleep in pregnant women with major depressive disorder- a randomized controlled trial.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Trial
- Cortisol awakening response in pregnant women with depressive disorders: a potential marker of recovery status from pregnancy to postpartum.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Chronotherapeutic Treatments for Psychiatric Disorders: A Narrative Review of Recent Literature.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Sleep, light exposure at night, and psychological wellbeing during pregnancy.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Effects of light therapy on sleep/wakefulness, daily rhythms, and the central orexin system in a diurnal rodent model of seasonal affective disorder.Journal of affective disorders · 2023Article
- 35 years of light treatment for mental disorders in the Netherlands.Annals of medicine · 2023Review
- Therapeutic Interventions to Mitigate Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress-Induced Damage in Patients with Bipolar Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesApproximately 11%-13% of pregnant women suffer from depression. Bright light therapy (BLT) is a promising treatment, combining direct availability, sufficient efficacy, low costs and high safety for both mother and child. Here, we examined the effects of BLT on depression during pregnancy.
designRandomised, double-blind controlled trial.
settingPrimary and secondary care in The Netherlands, from November 2016 to March 2019.
participants67 pregnant women (12-32 weeks gestational age) with a DSM-5 diagnosis of depressive disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).
interventionsParticipants were randomly allocated to treatment with either BLT (9000 lux, 5000 K) or dim red light therapy (DRLT, 100 lux, 2700 K), which is considered placebo. For 6 weeks, both groups were treated daily at home for 30 min on awakening. Follow-up took place weekly during the intervention, after 6 weeks of therapy, 3 and 10 weeks after treatment and 2 months postpartum. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Depressive symptoms were measured primarily with the Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Scale-Seasonal Affective Disorder. Secondary measures were the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Changes in rating scale scores of these questionnaires over time were analysed using generalised linear mixed models.
resultsMedian depression scores decreased by 40.6%-53.1% in the BLT group and by 50.9%-66.7% in the DRLT group. We found no statistically significant difference in symptom change scores between BLT and DRLT. Sensitivity and post-hoc analyses did not change our findings.
conclusionsDepressive symptoms of pregnant women with depression improved in both treatment arms. More research is necessary to determine whether these responses represent true treatment effects, non-specific treatment responses, placebo effects or a combination hereof. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR5476.
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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.