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For Depression Score Improvement, Lifestyle Modification Similar to Other Interventions
Improvements in depression scores for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) did not significantly differ among those assigned an adjuvant online lifestyle modification program, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or a placebo control intervention, according to study results published online in Psychiatry Research.
“However,” wrote researchers from Spain, “the results of our per-protocol analysis showed that the lifestyle modification program group had improved adherence to the Mediterranean diet and better quality-of-life at 12 months, and also used lower doses of antidepressants.”
The randomized controlled trial included 94 adults with TRD assigned to 1 of 3 arms: adjuvant treatment with an 8-week multimodal lifestyle modification program, an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program, or written suggestions for lifestyle changes, the latter of which served as a placebo control. Because the study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the interventions were implemented remotely via an online platform and just half of the originally planned 180 patients were recruited.
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Each of the groups demonstrated declines from baseline in average Beck Depression Inventory-II scores at 2, 6, and 12 months, but there were no significant differences between the groups, according to the study.
“Although the inter-group differences in the present work were not significant, all changes in depression were in the direction we hypothesized and were clinically relevant,” researchers added.
Per-protocol analysis of secondary outcomes showed quality of life at 12 months was significantly better in the lifestyle modification and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy groups compared with the placebo groups. Moreover, the lifestyle modification group had significantly better adherence to the Mediterranean diet and reduced use of antidepressants relative to the placebo group.
“We initially planned to perform this study using face-to-face interventions, but restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic made us change to an online format, which likely influenced our results,” researchers wrote. “…However, we acknowledge that the exceptional conditions in which the study was performed likely affected the results, for example by reducing patient adherence.”
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