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Figure 2 | BMC Psychology

Figure 2

From: Short-term efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in depression- reanalysis of data from meta-analyses up to 2010

Figure 2

Random-effects meta-analysis of depression scores (baseline-final) after HFL rTMS compared to sham in N = 32 studies. Notes: ’All’ refers to all patients in two HFL rTMS groups who received rTMS with two different stimulation frequencies. ’Combined’ in the column ’Outcome’ indicates that more than one depression scale was used in a study and the effect sizes according to the multiple scales were combined into one. The mean number of patients per group was used in the final calculations if patients dropped out throughout the study between baseline and final sessions. The forest plot (top) shows the weighted effect size d (box) and its 95% CI (vertical line through the box) for each study in the analysis. The diamond depicts the overall mean weighted d of all studies and its 95% CI (width of the diamond). The mean depression scores (baseline – final) were significantly reduced after HFL rTMS compared to sham in 32 studies (overall mean weighted d = −.47, 95% CI: −.61, −.33). The funnel plot (bottom) shows the effect size d versus standard error in each study in the analysis. The plot was symmetrical around the overall mean weighted d suggesting that there was little evidence for publication bias in the current meta-analysis. Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; HAMD, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; HFL, high-frequency left rTMS; MADRS, Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale; rTMS, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; Std diff, standardised mean difference (Cohen’s d).

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