ReviewBrain communications2026
Efficacy and long-term effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation on negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Brain communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07680959 (The Efficacy of Combined HD-tDCS and iTBS in Treating Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Efficacy of Combined HD-tDCS and iTBS in Treating Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the clinical efficacy and long-term benefits of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) in alleviating negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Two authors independently identified eligible studies from the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Excerpta Medica Database databases up to October 21, 2024. Our meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 14 software. Seventeen randomized controlled trials with a total of 764 participants were included in the meta-analysis. iTBS demonstrated greater efficacy in alleviating negative symptoms immediately after treatment (standardized mean difference = -0.55, 95% confidence interval: -1.00 to -0.10). Improved outcomes were associated with stimulation targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, delivery of more than 9900 pulses across over 10 sessions, and use of a stimulation intensity at 80% of the motor threshold. The follow-up results indicated that the iTBS group exhibited greater efficacy than the sham group only at the 6-month mark (standardized mean difference = -0.56, 95% confidence interval: -1.10 to -0.02). iTBS also reduced Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale general and total scores, whereas no significant effect was observed for positive symptoms. Our meta-analysis suggests that iTBS may alleviate negative symptoms in schizophrenia, with preliminary evidence of long-term benefits observed at the 6-month follow-up.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.