ArticlePsychiatry investigation2021
Psilocybin for End-of-Life Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of psilocybin on psychological distress in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Pharmacological Management of Anxiety in End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Review of Benzodiazepines, Opioids, and Psilocybin.Human psychopharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Psilocybin for major depressive disorder: a systematic review of randomized controlled studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Risk of bias in randomized clinical trials on psychedelic medicine: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Serotonergic psychedelics induce distinct patterns of metabolic activity and covariance within biologically informed rat brain networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The need for another tool: Australian healthcare professionals on the use of psilocybin for existential distress in people with cancer.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- DESI-MSI-Based Multi-Organ Distribution Mapping of Psilocin in Zebrafish.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Psychedelic-Assisted Interventions in Palliative Care: A Narrative Overview and Critical Evaluation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy For Death Acceptance in Terminal Illness: A Scoping Review.Journal of psychedelic studies · 2026Article
- Mystical but not challenging experiences predict symptom improvement after psilocybin for treatment-resistant OCD.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- The CAnadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT): A Multi-Phase Program Overview.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Review
- Overview and Specificity of Psilocybin Use in the Treatment of Mental Disorders:Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2025Review
- Review
- Substrate recognition by the 4-hydroxytryptamine kinase PsiK in psilocybin biosynthesis.FEBS letters · 2025Article
- Mushrooms, Microdosing, and Mental Illness: The Effect of Psilocybin on Neurotransmitters, Neuroinflammation, and Neuroplasticity.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- Neuroprotective effects of psilocybin in a rat model of stroke.BMC neuroscience · 2024Article
- Psilocybin for clinical indications: A scoping review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Longitudinal experiences of Canadians receiving compassionate access to psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Methyl transfer in psilocybin biosynthesis.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo systematically examine the effectiveness and tolerability of psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms.
methodsThe Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, and PsycINFO databases were searched up to November 25, 2020. We enrolled clinical trials investigating psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects model.
resultsOverall, five studies were included, revealing that psilocybin was superior to the placebo in treating state anxiety at 1 day (Hedges' g, -0.70; 95% confidence interval, -1.01 to -0.39) and 2 weeks (-1.03; -1.47 to -0.60) after treatment. Psilocybin was more effective than placebo in treating trait anxiety at 1 day (-0.71; -1.15 to -0.26), 2 weeks (-1.08; -1.80 to -0.36), and 6 months (-0.84; -1.37 to -0.30) after treatment. Psilocybin was associated with transient elevation in systolic (19.00; 13.58-24.41 mm Hg) and diastolic (8.66; 5.18-12.15 mm Hg) blood pressure compared with placebo. The differences between psilocybin and placebo groups with regard to allcause discontinuation, serious adverse events, and heart rates were nonsignificant.
conclusionPsilocybin-assisted therapy could ameliorate end-of-life anxiety symptoms without serious adverse events. Because of the small sample sizes of the included studies and high heterogeneity on long-term outcomes, future randomized controlled trials with large sample sizes are needed.
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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.