Author: Shaoyuan Li1, Peijing Rong2, Yu Wang1, Guixing Jin3, Xiaobing Hou4, Suxia Li5, Xue Xiao4, Wei Zhou6, Yue Wu3, Yaping Liu6, Yue Zhang1, Bin Zhao1, Yiting Huang7, Jin Cao7, Helen Chen7, Sierra Hodges7, Mark Vangel8, Jian Kong7
Affiliation:
1 Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
2 Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: drrongpj@163.com.
3 Department of Psychiatry, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.
4 Department of Psychiatry, Beijing First Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Beijing, China.
5 National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, China.
6 Department of Acupuncture, Huguo Temple Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
7 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
8 Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Conference/Journal: Neuromodulation
Date published: 2021 Dec 18
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.neurom.2021.10.021. , Word Count: 285
Objectives:
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental illnesses. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) compared with the effectiveness of citalopram, a commonly used antidepressant, in patients with depression.
Material and methods:
A total of 107 male and female patients with MDD (55 in the taVNS group and 52 in the citalopram group) were enrolled in a prospective 12-week, single-blind, comparative effectiveness trial. Participants were recruited from the outpatient departments of three hospitals in China. Participants were randomly assigned to either taVNS treatment (eight weeks, twice per day, with an additional four-week follow-up) or citalopram treatment (12 weeks, 40 mg/d). The primary outcome was the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17) measured every two weeks by trained interviewers blinded to the treatment assignment. The secondary end points included the 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Scale and peripheral blood biochemical indexes.
Results:
The HAM-D17 scores were reduced in both treatment groups; however, there was no significant group-by-time interaction (95% CI: -0.07 to 0.15, p = 0.79). Nevertheless, we found that taVNS produced a significantly higher remission rate at week four and week six than citalopram. Both treatments were associated with significant changes in the peripheral blood levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine, dopamine, γ-aminobutyric acid, and noradrenaline, but there was no significant difference between the two groups.
Conclusion:
taVNS resulted in symptom improvement similar to that of citalopram; thus, taVNS should be considered as a therapeutic option in the multidisciplinary management of MDD. Nevertheless, owing to the design of this study, it cannot be ruled out that the reduction in depression severity in both treatment groups could be a placebo effect.
Keywords: Citalopram; depression; glutamate; major depressive disorder; transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation.
PMID: 35088753 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurom.2021.10.021
