Transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Abstract

Objective: Efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were explored by meta-analysis.

Method: Four electronic databases (Cochrane, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science) were retrieved at 25/06/23. From our inclusion criteria, seven studies (N = 201 patients) were included, and we performed a meta-analysis using Stata15.0.

Results: Results suggested that the total Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown obsessive com-pulsive scale) scale was significantly lower in patients with OCD after tDCS treatment [SMD= -0.46, 95%CI (-0.84, -0.07), I²=39%, p = 0.02, Grade: high]. Subgroup analysis showed statistically significant results when treatment duration ≤ 20 days [SMD= -0.95, 95%CI (-1.80, -0.10), p = 0.03]. Moreover, tDCS and sham tDCS-treated OCD patients showed neither significantly different depressive symptoms nor significantly different adverse events [RR= -0.21, 95%CI (-0.58, 0.15), p = 0.25, Grade: moderate] and [RR = 3.98, 95%CI (0.04, 374.99), p = 0.55, Grade: very low], respectively.

Conclusion: tDCS maybe reduce the Y-BOCS total scores in OCD patients and depressive symptoms, but for adverse reactions. the results are inconclusive.