ArticleBMC psychiatry2025
Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for adolescent treatment resistant depression - a feasibility study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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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.
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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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinical Efficacy Study of Escitalopram Combined With Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients With Post-Ischemic Stroke Depression and Anxiety.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2026Article
- dDual-target rTMS treatment for adolescent depression with headache: a case report.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Physical Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression A Comprehensive Review of Efficacy, Safety, and Evidence Grading.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depression is a debilitating mental health disorder that affects a significant portion of the adolescent population, and 20% of affected youths do not respond to two trials of treatment with antidepressants, i.e. suffer from treatment resistant depression (TRD). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has demonstrated efficacy in TRD in adults, but its application in the adolescent population remains relatively unexplored. This open label pilot study investigates the safety, feasibility, and potential efficacy of low-frequency (1 Hz) rTMS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for adolescent TRD. Twenty patients, 13–18 years old, with treatment resistant unipolar- or bipolar depression were included (inclusion rate 0.9 patients per month) and two dropped out resulting in 18 participants completing the study (attrition rate 0.10). Daily sessions on 20–30 consecutive days with 1 Hz rTMS was administered. A significant decrease in depressive symptoms (decrease from median score of 35 to 23 on Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, p < 0.01) and increase in function measures (increase of median score of 45 to 55 on Children’s Global Assessment Scale, p < 0.05) was observed at the end of treatment compared to baseline. However, only one patient reached the response criterium (< 50% score in Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale). Adverse effects such as scalp pain, headache, tiredness and nausea were common but tolerable, and tended to decrease during the course of treatment. In conclusion, the results of this study support feasibility of future larger studies of right frontal low-frequency rTMS for TRD in the adolescent population.
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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.