Individual patient data meta-analysis of combined treatments versus psychotherapy (with or without pill placebo) pharmacotherapy or pill placebo for adult depression: a protocol

摘要

IntroductionThere are many proven treatments (psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy or their combination) for the treatment of depression. Although there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of combination treatment (psychotherapy + pharmacotherapy) over pharmacotherapy alone, psychotherapy alone or psychotherapy plus pill placebo, for depression, little is known about which specific groups of patients may respond best to combined treatment versus monotherapy. Conventional meta-analyses techniques have limitations when tasked with examining whether specific individual characteristics moderate the effect of treatment on depression. Therefore, this protocol outlines an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis to explore which patients, with which clinical characteristics, have better outcomes in combined treatment compared with psychotherapy (alone or with pill placebo), pharmacotherapy and pill placebo.