Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants in the long-term treatment of major depression: protocol for a systematic review and networkmeta-analysis.

Shinohara, Kiyomi; Efthimiou, Orestis; Ostinelli, Edoardo G; Tomlinson, Anneka; Geddes, John R; Nierenberg, Andrew A; Ruhe, Henricus G; Furukawa, Toshi A; Cipriani, Andrea (2019). Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants in the long-term treatment of major depression: protocol for a systematic review and networkmeta-analysis. BMJ open, 9(5), e027574. BMJ Publishing Group 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027574

[img]
Preview
Text
Shinohara BMJOpen 2019.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC).

Download (849kB) | Preview

INTRODUCTION

Pharmacotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of major depression. At the initiation of antidepressant treatment, both improvement of symptoms in the short term and relapse prevention in the long term should be taken into account. However, there is insufficient evidence regarding the efficacy and the acceptability of continuation/maintenance treatments and the relative efficacy/acceptability of antidepressants.

OBJECTIVE

We will conduct a pairwise meta-analysis and a network meta-analysis (NMA) to examine the relative efficacy, tolerability and acceptability of antidepressants in the long-term treatment of major depression.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will include double-blind randomised controlled trials comparing any of the following antidepressants, which we included in our previous NMA of the acute treatment for major depression, with placebo or with another active drug for long-term treatment of major depression: agomelatine, amitriptyline, bupropion, citalopram, clomipramine, desvenlafaxine, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, levomilnacipran, milnacipran, mirtazapine, nefazodone, paroxetine, reboxetine, sertraline, trazodone, venlafaxine, vilazodone and vortioxetine. Our primary outcomes will be sustained response and all-cause dropouts. We will include four types of designs that are used to investigate long-term treatment. We will conduct two main analyses. First, we will conduct a pairwise meta-analysis comparing all antidepressants versus placebo to investigate whether continuing antidepressants after achieving a positive response in the acute-phase treatment is beneficial and/or safe. Second, we will conduct an NMA to examine the comparative efficacy and acceptability of the drugs. We will use a novel approach that will combine the results of acute-phase treatment NMA with long-term treatment studies to include all related designs in the NMA. We will ensure the validity of combining different designs and our new approach by checking the distribution of important effect modifiers and consistency of network.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This study did not require ethical approval. We will disseminate our findings by publishing results in a peer-reviewed journal.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42018114561; Pre-results.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Further Contribution)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Efthimiou, Orestis

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

2044-6055

Publisher:

BMJ Publishing Group

Language:

English

Submitter:

Beatrice Minder Wyssmann

Date Deposited:

29 May 2019 12:03

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:28

Publisher DOI:

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027574

PubMed ID:

31110100

Uncontrolled Keywords:

antidepressants depression long-term treatment network meta-analysis relapse prevention

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.131127

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/131127

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback