Efficacy of light therapy on nonseasonal depression among elderly adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
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Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of light therapy in the treatment of geriatric depression. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out. Data sources for the literature search were PubMed, Cochrane Collaboration’s Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Cochrane Systematic Reviews, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Controlled trials of light therapy on older patients with nonseasonal depression and depression rating scales were eligible. Studies were pooled using a random-effect model for comparisons with light therapy. We used effect size (ES), which expresses changes in depression severity, in each selected meta-analysis to calculate the standardized mean difference on the basis of Hedges’ adjusted g; positive values indicated that the depression severity improved after light therapy. All results were presented with 95% CIs. Statistical heterogeneity was explored through visual inspection of funnel plots and the I 2 statistic. Moderators of effects were explored using meta-regression. Results: We identified eight trials involving 395 participants that met the inclusion criteria. Light therapy was significantly more effective than comparative treatments, including placebo or dim light, with an ES of 0.422 (95% CI: 0.174–0.709, P =0.001). In addition, six of the eight trials used bright (white) light, resulting in significantly reduced severity of geriatric depression (N=273, ES: 0.460, 95% CI: 0.085–0.836, P =0.016). Furthermore, pale blue light therapy reduced the severity of geriatric depression (N=89, ES: 0.464, 95% CI: 0.046–0.882, P =0.030). Conclusion: Our results highlighted the significant efficacy of light therapy in the treatment of geriatric depression. Additional well-designed, controlled studies are necessary to adopt standard parameters, adequate group sizes, and randomized assignment to evaluate more thoroughly the efficacy of light therapy for treating geriatric depression. Keywords: depression, elderly adults, light therapy Corrigendum for this paper has been published
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Chang and colleagues reported in their review that none of the 395 older adult participants experienced adverse effects from bright light therapy.
“To illustrate, Chang and colleagues reported in their review that none of the 395 older adult participants experienced adverse effects from bright light therapy [57].”
From Ocular light exposure interventions for sleep, circadian rhythms, rest-activity cycles, mood, and cognitive function in older adults: An Overview of Cochrane and non-Cochrane Systematic Reviews (2025) · cites this paper as [57]
The Discussion (Heterogeneity and publication bias) says headache was the most common adverse effect in one included trial, contradicting the claim that no participants experienced adverse effects. The Results (Adverse effects) report no *significant* adverse reactions, not no adverse effects at all. The Abstract (Results) gives 395 as the total across eight trials, including comparison groups and treatments other than bright white light. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Li, Y., Ru, T., Siyu, L. I., Hanyu, C. H. E. N., Shuya, X. I. E., & Zhou, G. (2021) · Advances in Psychological Science · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2022.00389 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Trkulja, V., & Barić, H. (2021) · Advances in experimental medicine and biology · doi:10.1007/978-981-33-6044-0_20 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Light Therapy for Older People with Depressive Symptoms: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Seok, J., & Kim, J.-D. (2024) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm13226982 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Lomnășan, A., Vintilă, B. I., Bucuță, M. D., Ștef, L., Anghel, C. E., Grama, A. M., Cornea, M., Boicean, A., Ichim, C., Paziuc, L. C., et al. (2025) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm14051756 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Light therapy for seasonal affective disorder in visual impairment and blindness – a pilot study
Madsen, H. Ø., Ba‐Ali, S., Hageman, I., Lund‐Andersen, H., & Martiny, K. (2021) · Acta Neuropsychiatrica · doi:10.1017/neu.2021.6 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Murukesu, R. R., Alkaff, Z. A., Bridges, C., & Spitschan, M. (2025) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd016157 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Sleep Medicine - Asleep or Awake?
(2024) · doi:10.5772/intechopen.104201 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Role of adjunctive nonpharmacological strategies for treatment of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder
Chakrabarti, S., Jolly, A. J., Singh, P., & Yadhav, N. (2023) · World Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.5498/wjp.v13.i8.495 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Alkaff, Z. A., Murukesu, R. R., Villar, D. D., Woerle, J., & Spitschan, M. (2025) · F1000Research · doi:10.12688/f1000research.157814.2 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Circadian Rhythm Disorders and Chronotherapy for Mood Disorders
Timtim, S., & Welsh, D. K. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-44447-1_10 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Common Sleep Problems and Management in Older Adults
Cheng, C. P.-W., & Wong, Y. P. (2023) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.111656 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Sensory Profiles and Technological Deficits: Classification, Relevance, and Gaps
Hutson, J., Hutson, P., & Harper-Nichols, M. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-58045-1_3 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Shrivastava, V., Batham, L., Mishra, S., & Mishra, A. (2020) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/bqf5r · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Light therapy in medicine: where do we stand?
Oyama, Y., Witowski, A., Adamzik, M., Bartels, K., & de la Garza Eckle, T. (2026) · Annals of Translational Medicine · doi:10.21037/atm-2026-0041
“For older adults specifically, light therapy has proven significantly more effective than comparative treatments such as placebo or dim light, with both bright white light and pale blue light showing clinically meaningful reductions in geriatric depression (102).”
Ucun, Y., & Küçük, L. (2021) · Perspectives In Psychiatric Care · doi:10.1111/ppc.12844
Alkaff, Z. A., Murukesu, R. R., Villar, D. D., & Spitschan, M. (2024) · F1000Research · doi:10.12688/f1000research.157814.1
Lin, M., Tian, H., Xie, W., Wu, T., Huang, L., Wu, X., & Zhao, Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2026.1768810
- Authors
- Chang, C.-H., Liu, C.-Y., Chen, S.-J., & Tsai, H.-C.
- Affiliations
- China Medical University (TW)
- National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Science (TW)
- Mackay Memorial Hospital (TW)
- Tzu Chi University (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Tsai, Hsin-Chi
- Venue
- Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-11
- Volume
- Volume 14
- Pages
- 3091-3102
- ISSN
- 1176-6328 (ISSN-L)
- 1178-2021
- PMC
- PMC6241691
- OpenAlex
- W2900885245
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 0.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW107-TDU-B-212-123004)
- China Medical University Hospital (MOHW107‐TDU‐B‐212‐123004, DMR-107-201)
- China Medical University (MOHW107-TDU-B-212-123004)
- Division of Materials Research
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- phototherapy, geriatric depression, older adults, depression severity, placebo comparison, dim light
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