CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 8Electroconvulsive Therapy StudiesTreatment of Major DepressionTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies

Comparison of the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) plus agomelatine to ECT plus placebo in treatment‐resistant depression

Lin, C.‐H., Yang, W.‐C., Chen, C.‐C., Cai, W.‐R.·2020·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
DOI 10.1111/acps.13183
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is commonly used to treat patients with treatment-resistant depression. We aimed to investigate whether combining an antidepressant agent with ECT might enhance therapeutic efficacy and prevent early relapse. METHOD: During the acute ECT phase, patients (N = 97) with treatment-resistant depression were randomized to receive ECT plus agomelatine 50 mg/day (n = 48) or ECT plus placebo (n = 49). Symptom severity measures, including the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and other scales, functional impairment, quality of life, neuropsychological tests, adverse events and attitudes toward ECT, were assessed regularly. Remission was defined as a HAMD-17 score ≤7. If patients achieved post-ECT remission, they were prescribed agomelatine 50 mg/day and participated in a 12-week follow-up trial. HAMD-17 was rated at 4-week intervals. Relapse was defined as a HAMD-17 score ≥14, or rehospitalization for a psychiatric reason. RESULTS: The two treatment groups were comparable at (i) baseline variables; (ii) score changes in all symptom measures, functional impairment, quality of life, and neuropsychological tests; (iii) frequency of adverse events and attitudes toward ECT; and (iv) post-ECT response/remission rates. There were no statistically significant differences following ECT in relapse rates and time to relapse between these two groups. CONCLUSION: Adding agomelatine to ECT yielded comparable response/remission rates to ECT without agomelatine in the acute ECT phase. Starting agomelatine in combination with ECT did not seem to be more efficacious in preventing relapse than starting agomelatine after the acute ECT course. More research is needed to guide clinical recommendations.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/acps.13183

Cites

61 of 61 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • 20 articles define relapse with psychometric measures (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale, Clinical Global Impression).

    “20 do so with psychometric measures (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale, Clinical Global Impression) (4, 7, 9, 13–18, 33, 34, 42–49)”

    From Administrative criteria in the relapse of depressive disorder: a critical appraisal (2026) · cites this paper as [13]

  • 13 of the 20 studies using scales use the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, with varied score criteria: 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, and up to 20.

    “13 of the 20 use the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, although the score they establish as a criterion is very varied, with some considering a score of 8 points (4) as sufficient for a relapse, others of 12 (20), 14 (13, 14, 44), 16 (17, 18) 18 (47, 49) and up to 20 (9).”

    From Administrative criteria in the relapse of depressive disorder: a critical appraisal (2026) · cites this paper as [13]

  • 40 articles define relapse based on administrative criteria.

    “and 40 define it based on what we will establish as administrative criteria (1, 4, 7, 9, 11–13, 15–29, 33, 34, 38, 39, 42–50, 52–55).”

    From Administrative criteria in the relapse of depressive disorder: a critical appraisal (2026) · cites this paper as [13]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Lin, C. ‐., Yang, W. ‐., Chen, C. ‐., & Cai, W. ‐.
Affiliations
  • Kaohsiung Medical University (TW)
  • Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital (TW)
Corresponding author
Lin, C.‐H.
ORCID
Lin, C.‐H.
Venue
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2020-06-08
Volume
142
Issue
2
Pages
121-131
ISSN
  • 0001-690X (ISSN-L)
  • 1600-0447
DOI
10.1111/acps.13183
OpenAlex
W3024281565
Cited by
8
References
61
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2
FWCI
0.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST‐103‐2314‐B‐280‐001‐MY3)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Electroconvulsive Therapy Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
Keywords
electroconvulsive therapy, agomelatine, treatment-resistant depression, antidepressant augmentation, relapse prevention, remission
MeSH terms
Acetamides, Adult, Aged, Combined Modality Therapy, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Naphthalenes, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Quality of Life, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult, Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review