Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible for inclusion if the participants and outcome assessors were blinded to treatment allocation.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies that compared left prefrontal cortical rTMS with sham treatment were eligible for inclusion. In the included studies, rTMS was administered at varying frequencies (10 to 20 Hz, or 1/20, 0.3/10 or 5/20 Hz) and treatment was given for 5 or 10 days. The total daily stimulation dose ranged from 800 to 2,000 (or 800/800, 250/250 or 1,600/1,600) and the motor threshold ranged from 80 to 110%.
Participants included in the review
Studies of patients with depression were eligible for inclusion if the patients had not previously received TMS or sham TMS. In the included studies, the patients continued on stable medication, started treatment with sertraline, or were not receiving any medication. In their discussion, the authors stated that most of the participants had severe depression that had failed to respond to other interventions, but no details were provided.
Outcomes assessed in the review
The inclusion criteria were not explicitly defined in terms of the outcomes. All the studies in the review assessed depression using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D).
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.