SynthesisSchizophrenia bulletin2022
Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Improve Insight in Patients With Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in Schizophrenia bulletin, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Adjunctive transcranial direct current stimulation for cognitive improvement in schizophrenia: insights from a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Effects and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation on multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review of randomized clinical trials.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Across Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of tDCS on Cognitive Function in MCAO/R Rats by Regulating Mitochondrial Autophagy Mediated by the PINK1/Parkin Signaling Pathway.Neurochemical research · 2026Article
- Cognitive and emotional effects of bilateral prefrontal anodal tDCS and high-frequency tRNS in schizophrenia: a randomized sham-controlled study.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- The Less Things Change, the More They Remain the Same: Impaired Neural Plasticity as a Critical Target for Drug Development in Neuropsychiatry.Advances in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Network-level mechanisms underlying effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on visuomotor learning in schizophrenia.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Early auditory processing dysfunction in schizophrenia: Mechanisms and implications.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Network-level mechanisms underlying effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on visuomotor learning impairments in schizophrenia.Research square · 2023Article
- Electrode montage for transcranial direct current stimulation governs its effect on symptoms and functionality in schizophrenia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Neural correlates of illness awareness in obesity: an exploratory pilot fMRI study.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and hypothesisImpaired insight into the illness and its consequences is associated with poor outcomes in schizophrenia. While transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may represent a potentially effective treatment strategy to relieve various symptoms of schizophrenia, its impact on insight remains unclear. To investigate whether tDCS would modulate insight in patients with schizophrenia, we undertook a meta-analysis based on results from previous RCTs that investigated the clinical efficacy of tDCS. We hypothesize that repeated sessions of tDCS will be associated with insight improvement among patients. STUDY
designPubMed and ScienceDirect databases were systematically searched to identify RCTs that delivered at least 10 tDCS sessions in patients with schizophrenia. The primary outcome was the change in insight score, assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) item G12 following active tDCS sessions as opposed to sham stimulation. Effect sizes were calculated for all studies and pooled using a random-effects model. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted. STUDY
resultsThirteen studies (587 patients with schizophrenia) were included. A significant pooled effect size (g) of -0.46 (95% CI [-0.78; -0.14]) in favor of active tDCS was observed. Age and G12 score at baseline were identified as significant moderators, while change in total PANSS score was not significant.
conclusionsTen sessions of active tDCS with either frontotemporoparietal or bifrontal montage may improve insight into the illness in patients with schizophrenia. The effect of this treatment could contribute to the beneficial outcomes observed in patients following stimulation.
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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.