Is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) an effective and safe treatment option for postpartum and peripartum depression? A systematic review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Depressive symptoms, postpartum and peripartum, can affect mothers' ability to nurture their children, and may have adverse impacts on social, cognitive, language, and self-concept development. Currently, postpartum and peripartum depression are treated through psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and pharmacotherapy. These treatments are moderately effective and may induce side effects that can negatively impact the mother-child relationship. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a new treatment option with promise as an effective and safe treatment for postpartum and peripartum depression. Objective: We conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness and safety of rTMS as a treatment option for postpartum and peripartum depression. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, Theses and Dissertations Global database were searched. We included randomized and non-randomized studies that used rTMS as the primary treatment option for women with postpartum or peripartum depression as defined by the DSM or ICD. This review abides by the PRISMA 2009 guidelines. Results: A total of 537 articles were identified by the search, and seven articles met the inclusion criteria of the review accounting for a total of 110 participants. Four of the studies assessed rTMS as a treatment for postpartum depression, and three studies assessed rTMS as a treatment for depression during pregnancy. All seven articles suggest that rTMS is a promising treatment option, however, the two existing randomized controlled trials did not observe any statistically significant results. RTMS appears to be a safe treatment with limited side effects and low dropout rates. However, the existing research on rTMS as a treatment for postpartum and peripartum depression is limited and underpowered. More randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are needed to better assess the efficacy of rTMS as a treatment option for postpartum and peripartum depression.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.005 | 0.021 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.007 | 0.005 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.006 | 0.007 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".