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Clinical Question:
In patients with seasonal affective disorder or other types of depression,
is light therapy effective as sole therapy or as an adjunct therapy?
Bottom Line:
Many reports of the efficacy of light therapy are not based on rigorous
study designs. This analysis of randomized, controlled trials suggests that
bright light treatment and dawn simulation for seasonal affective disorder
and bright light for nonseasonal depression are efficacious, with effect
sizes equivalent to those in most antidepressant pharmacotherapy trials.
Adopting standard approaches to light therapy's specific issues (e.g.,
defining parameters of active versus placebo conditions) and incorporating
rigorous designs (e.g., adequate group sizes, randomized assignment) are
necessary to evaluate light therapy for mood disorders.
Reference:
Golden RN, Gaynes BN, Ekstrom RD, et al. The efficacy of light therapy in
the treatment of mood disorders: A review and meta-analysis of the evidence.
Am J Psychiatry 2005;162:656-62.
Study Design:
Systematic review
Funding:
Unknown/not stated
Setting:
Outpatient (any)
Synopsis:
The purpose of this study was to assess the evidence base for the efficacy
of light therapy in treating mood disorders. The authors systematically
searched PubMed (January 1975 to July 2003) to identify randomized,
controlled trials of light therapy for mood disorders that fulfilled
predefined criteria. These articles were abstracted, and data were
synthesized by disease and intervention category. Only 13% of the studies
met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses revealed that a significant
reduction in depression symptom severity was associated with bright light
treatment (eight studies, having an effect size of 0.84 and 95% confidence
interval [CI] of 0.60 to 1.08) and dawn simulation in seasonal affective
disorder (five studies; effect size=0.73, 95% CI=0.37 to 1.08) and with
bright light treatment in nonseasonal depression (three studies; effect
size=0.53, 95% CI=0.18 to 0.89). Bright light as an adjunct to
antidepressant pharmacotherapy for nonseasonal depression was not effective
(five studies; effect size=-0.01, 95% CI=-0.36 to 0.34). |