Trial reportNeurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics2021
Antidepressant Monotherapy and Combination Therapy with Acupuncture in Depressed Patients: A Resting-State Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study.
Trial report in Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03909217 (Effectiveness and Safety of Transcutaneous Electrical Cranial-auricular Acupoint Stimulation), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 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.
Effectiveness and Safety of Transcutaneous Electrical Cranial-auricular Acupoint Stimulation (TECAS) for Patients With Mild-to-moderate Depression.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- The use of acupuncture for addressing neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with long COVID: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and coordinate-based meta-analysis of fMRI studies on acupuncture at LR 3.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture and related therapies for the anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D): A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture in treating cardiovascular disease complicated with depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The increased inter-brain neural synchronization in prefrontal cortex between simulated patient and acupuncturist during acupuncture stimulation: Evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning.Human brain mapping · 2023Trial
- Both Genetic Manipulation and Acupuncture Alleviate Depressive-Like Behavior Mediated by Astrocytic P2X7 Receptors.MedComm · 2026Article
- Utility of Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2026Review
- Acupuncture on 5-hydroxytryptamine levels and clinical outcomes in depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.World journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Acupoint temperature as a biomarker: infrared thermography in the diagnosis of adolescents with major depressive disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in evaluating antidepressant treatment efficacy: a review of recent evidence (2021-2026).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Acupuncture's Multisystem Neuroimmunomodulation: Central-Peripheral Interactions in Gastroenteric, Psychiatric, and Chronic Pain Disorders.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Review
- Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Monitoring Treatment Response in Psychiatry: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Clinical value of predicting relapse within 3 months in alcohol-dependent patients using fNIRS in verbal fluency task.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Exploring acupuncture as a therapeutic approach for tic disorders: a review of current understanding and potential benefits.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Analysis of the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in acupuncture research: a review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Global trends and performances of infrared imaging technology studies on acupuncture: a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- The prevalence and clinical correlation factors of cognitive impairment in patients with major depressive disorder hospitalized during the acute phase.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Insomniacs show greater prefrontal activation during verbal fluency task compared to non-insomniacs: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy investigation of depression in patients.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Prefrontal Cortex Hemodynamics and Functional Connectivity Changes during Performance Working Memory Tasks in Older Adults with Sleep Disorders.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Structural and functional improvement of amygdala sub-regions in postpartum depression after acupuncture.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depression is a common psychiatric illness affecting over 300 million people globally. Acupuncture has been reported to be a safe complementary treatment for depression. This study is aimed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of combining acupuncture with antidepressants in treating depression compared to the sole use of antidepressants. Seventy depression patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 50) and control group (n = 20). The treatment group received acupuncture combined antidepressants treatment for 3 weeks, while the control group took antidepressants monotherapy for 3 weeks. Among the 70 patients, 40 participants (20 control; 20 treatment) were randomized for studying functional connectivity (FC) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) measured by the functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The primary outcome was HAMD-17 and secondary outcomes were PHQ-9, and the relationships of resting-state FC (rsFC) with the depression severity. PHQ-9 and HAMD-17 scores in the treatment group were significantly lower than those in the control group at Week 3 (p = 0.01) with effect sizes of -0.4 and -0.61 respectively. The rsFC in F1, F3, AF3, AF7, FC3, FC5 (left DLPFC, 10-20 system), AF8, and F6 (right DLPFC) in the treatment group had significant temporal correlation (p < 0.05, FDR corrected) in DLPFC compared to the channels in the control group. No significant correlation was found between the changes of rsFC and depression severity. In conclusion, depressed patients receiving acupuncture combined with antidepressants have improvement of depressive symptoms and the stronger rsFC in the DLPFC compared to those using antidepressants alone.
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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.