ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2023
Effectiveness of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Depression in the Elderly: A Retrospective Natural Analysis.
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictive roles of serum IL-33/ST2 and BDNF in depressed patients with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: a pilot study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Efficacy and Safety of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treating Late-Life Depression: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Clinical Updates and Perspectives on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Never Too Late: Safety and Efficacy of Deep TMS for Late-Life Depression.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionDepression in the elderly is an understudied condition. Psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches suffer from specific difficulties with this patient group. Brain stimulation techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) offer a therapeutic alternative. rTMS remains understudied in this age group when compared with younger patients.
methodsA cohort of 505 patients with depression was analyzed in retrospect concerning their response to rTMS treatment. A total of 15.5% were 60 years old or older, defined as the elderly group of depressed patients. The majority of these were treated with high-frequency protocols over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). For group comparisons, we used Student t-tests or chi-square-tests, depending on the scales of measurement. As measures for effect size, we used Cohen's d for the relative and absolute change in the HDRS total score.
resultsGroups did not differ significantly with respect to baseline depression severity or treatment parameters. In the group of elderly patients, a higher number of females were present. Groups did not differ significantly with respect to treatment efficacy, as indicated by the absolute and relative changes in the HDRS-21 sum score. Elderly patients tended to take higher numbers of mood stabilizers. Elderly patients showed a significantly superior reduction for the item "appetite" and a superior reduction tending towards significance for the item "work and interests".
conclusionsAntidepressant rTMS treatment showed comparable efficacy for patients above 60 years to that in younger patients. Differences between the age groups concerning amelioration of distinct HDRS single items deserve further investigation.
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