Trial reportJournal of the International AIDS Society2022
Interpersonal therapy versus antidepressant medication for treatment of postpartum depression and anxiety among women with HIV in Zambia: a randomized feasibility trial.
Trial report in Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2022. 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
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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.
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, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of home care interventions on postpartum depression symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- How effective are community health workers in managing and preventing perinatal depression in sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review of quantitative evidence.Health policy and planning · 2026Pooled it
- Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Interventions in the Era of Universal Test and Treat: A Hybrid Systematic-Narrative Literature Review of Global Evidence.AIDS and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Factors associated with fluoxetine adherence among outpatients with common mental disorders in Western Kenya.BMJ global health · 2025Trial
- Analysis of Perinatal Care in Zambia in the Context of WHO Recommendations.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Unseen and underserved: A scoping review of perinatal mental health interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Postpartum depression among newly delivered mothers based on postnatal newborn care.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Postpartum Depression Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Diagnosis, and Management: An Appraisal of the Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy in comparison to other psychological and pharmacological interventions for reducing depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with postpartum depression in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Review
- Acceptability of a Randomized Trial of Anti-depressant Medication or Interpersonal Therapy for Treatment of Perinatal Depression in Women with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 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
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionPostpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent and debilitating disease that may affect medication adherence and thus maternal health and vertical transmission among women with HIV. We assessed the feasibility of a trial of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) versus antidepressant medication (ADM) to treat PPD and/or anxiety among postpartum women with HIV in Lusaka, Zambia.
methodsBetween 29 October 2019 and 8 September 2020, we pre-screened women 6-8 weeks after delivery with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and diagnosed PPD or anxiety with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Consenting participants were randomized 1:1 to up to 11 sessions of IPT or daily self-administered sertraline and followed for 24 weeks. We assessed EPDS score, Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) and medication side effects at each visit and measured maternal HIV viral load at baseline and final study visit. Retention, visit adherence, change in EPDS, CGI-S and log viral load were compared between groups with t-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests; we report mean differences, relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. A participant satisfaction survey assessed trial acceptability.
results78/80 (98%) participants were retained at the final study visit. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, visit adherence was greater among women allocated to ADM (9.9 visits, SD 2.2) versus IPT (8.9 visits, SD 2.4; p = 0.06). EPDS scores decreased from baseline to final visit overall, though mean change was greater in the IPT group (-13.8 points, SD 4.7) compared to the ADM group (-11.4 points, SD 5.5; p = 0.04). Both groups showed similar changes in mean log viral load from baseline to final study visit (mean difference -0.43, 95% CI -0.32, 1.18; p = 0.48). In the IPT group, viral load decreased significantly from baseline (0.9 log copies/ml, SD 1.7) to final visit (0.2 log copies/ml, SD 0.9; p = 0.01).
conclusionsThis pilot study demonstrates that a trial of two forms of PPD treatment is feasible and acceptable among women with HIV in Zambia. IPT and ADM both improved measures of depression severity; however, a full-scale trial is required to determine whether treatment of PPD and anxiety improves maternal-infant HIV outcomes.
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