Bright Light Therapy Effective for Nonseasonal Depression

TOPLINE:

Bright light therapy (BLT) is associated with a 41% remission rate in patients with nonseasonal depressive disorders, significantly higher than the remission rates reported with other treatments, a new meta-analysis shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomized clinical trials with 858 patients with nonseasonal depressive disorders.
• Included studies compared BLT alone or BLT plus antidepressant with placebo, antidepressant monotherapy, or dim red light.
• BLT was administered using a fluorescent light box producing white light at 10,000 lux for at least 30 minutes daily.
• The primary outcomes were the remission of symptoms and response to treatment, assessed using scales such as the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D).

TAKEAWAY:

• The estimated remission rate was significantly higher for patients with nonseasonal depressive disorders in the BLT group than for those in the control group (41% vs 23.5%; P
• The response rate was also higher for patients in the BLT group than for those in the control group (60% vs 39%; P
• In the subgroup analysis on the basis of the duration of follow-up periods, the BLT group had better remission and response rates than the control group for both short-term (P 4 weeks; P = .04) follow-up periods, which suggests that patients achieved remission and responded to treatment more quickly with BLT than with antidepressants alone.
• The BLT group had a significantly greater reduction in HAM-D scores than the control group (mean difference, −1.44; P = .003).

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings suggest that BLT was an effective adjunctive treatment for nonseasonal depressive disorders, and the response time to the initial treatment may be improved with the addition of BLT,” the study authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Artur Menegaz de Almeida, MS, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop, Brazil. It was published online on October 2 in JAMA Psychiatry.

LIMITATIONS:

Slight differences were observed in the mean follow-up time between the included trials. The definitions for remission rates and response to treatment varied among the included studies, and they also involved different levels of disorder severity. Additionally, the study did not enable the separate analysis of each included depressive disorder, nor bipolar or unipolar subtypes of major depressive disorder. The moderate number of studies included may have affected the generalizability of the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

Study funding was not disclosed. No relevant conflicts of interest were disclosed.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.