A Meta-Research of Randomized Controlled Trials in the Field of Mental Health: Comparing Pharmacological to Non-Pharmacological Interventions from 1955 to 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study aimed to provide a general overview of mental health randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and summarize the temporal trends in terms of the number of studies, median sample sizes, and median effect sizes using data collected from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

Methods

Using data collected from the CDSR, the temporal trends are compared in terms of the number of studies, median sample sizes, and median effect sizes between two broad categories of interventions: pharmacological RCT (ph-RCT) and non-pharmacological RCT (nph-RCT), and in conjunction with major mental disorder categories.

Results

Chronologically, the number of mental health RCTs reported in publications has increased exponentially from 1955 to 2020. While ph-RCT com

SUBMITTER: Chen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10585133 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature