SynthesisBrain and behavior2026
The Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Alcohol Craving, Efficacy, Emotion, and Cognitive Function in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trial.
Synthesis in Brain and behavior, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on alcohol craving, abstinence days, alcohol intake, anxiety, depression, and cognitive function in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), providing evidence to support precision treatment strategies.
methodsAs of March 6, 2026, we have systematically searched eight databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science Journal Database, Wanfang Database, and China Biomedical Literature Service System). The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for Randomized Trials (RoB 2) was used to assess the quality of the included randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies. Stata15 was employed for the meta-analysis.
resultsWe included 19 RCT studies involving 942 patients with AUD. Compared with the sham stimulation group, TMS significantly reduced alcohol craving in patients with AUD. Subgroup analysis showed significant effect sizes in cases where the TMS type was continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), the number of sessions was 10 or 15, the frequency was 10 Hz, and the follow-up duration was ≤ 1 month or ≥ 3 months. Meta-regression indicated that disease type might be the main reason for the high heterogeneity in alcohol craving. Compared with the sham stimulation group, TMS showed significant differences in maintaining abstinence days, reducing alcohol intake, alleviating depressive symptoms, and improving cognitive function.
conclusionsCurrent evidence indicates that TMS can effectively alleviate craving in patients with AUD and demonstrate significant advantages in maintaining abstinence days, reducing alcohol intake, alleviating depressive symptoms, and improving cognitive function. Given the high degree of heterogeneity, the results were interpreted with caution. In the future, more large-sample, multi-center, double-blind RCT will be needed to supplement and validate the results of this study.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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.