Background: Antidepressant use in pregnancy is associated with high levels of decision-making difficulty for patients, and psychotherapy may not be effective for severe symptoms. Alternative treatment options are needed. We conducted a systematic review of the clinical effects and tolerability of non-invasive neurostimulation: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS), and transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) for the treatment of antenatal depression.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus for published articles in English (1990 to June 2019). Two reviewers reviewed full-text articles, assessed quality, and extracted data on maternal psychiatric, pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.
Results: Of 565 articles, 21 met inclusion criteria: two RCTs (1 rTMS; 1 tDCS), four open-label studies (3 rTMS; 1 tDCS), three case series (3 rTMS), and twelve case reports (9 rTMS; 1 tDCS; 1 tACS; 1 TNS). In all but one published study (1 rTMS), non-invasive neurostimulation resulted in either response or remission of antenatal depression. Minor maternal side effects were reported in rTMS and tDCS studies, but not in other modalities. Fetal adverse effects were not reported in any intervention. A small proportion of participants dropped out of treatment (rTMS, tDCS).
Limitations: Very few randomized trials have been conducted and there is significant heterogeneity in the parameters of the modalities that have been studied.
Conclusions: Non-invasive neurostimulation holds promise as a potentially effective and feasible alternative treatment for antenatal depression. Strategies to enhance recruitment of pregnant women into non-invasive neurostimulation trials that have longitudinal follow-up are needed.
Keywords: Antenatal depression; Depression; Non-invasive neurostimulation; Pregnancy.
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