Takeaway
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) improved the symptoms and progression of postnatal depression compared with usual care, home visiting, waitlist control or other conventional treatment.
Why this matters
- High-quality randomised controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the findings.
Study design
- Meta-analysis of 20 randomised controlled trials including 3623 participants with postnatal depression compared CBT with the control group (usual care, home visiting, waitlist control or other conventional treatment).
- Funding: None.
Key results
- CBT significantly improved Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score vs control group in both short-term (standardised mean difference [SMD], −2.86; P<.05 and long-term p>
- CBT significantly improved short-term (MD, −6.30; P<.05 and long-term p scores of beck depression inventory.>
- Sub-group analysis:
- In-home CBT significantly reduced in short-term (SMD, −0.97; P<.01 and long-term p epds.>
- Telephone-based therapy also showed a significant reduction in short-term (SMD, −7.50; 95% CI, −8.06 to −6.94) and long-term (SMD, −2.62; 95% CI, −2.89 to −2.35) EPDS.
Limitations
- Heterogeneity across studies.
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