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Whole-body Hyperthermia for Mild to Moderate Depressive Disorder

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Depression, Unipolar
Interventions
Device: Whole-body hyperthermia
Registration Number
NCT03906175
Lead Sponsor
Universität Duisburg-Essen
Brief Summary

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of whole-body hyperthermia in comparison to wait list on depressive symptom severity in patients with mild to moderate depressive disorder currently not under psychotherapeutic or antidepressant drug treatment.

Secondary aims included further quality of life outcomes, immunological parameters, and tolerability/safety of the hyperthermia.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
46
Inclusion Criteria
  • Unipolar depression (diagnosed according to the DSM-IV)
  • Mild depression: 8-16 points on the HAMD-17 or moderate depression: 17-23 points on the HAMD-17
Exclusion Criteria
  • Current psychotherapy
  • Antidepressant drug treatment in the last 4 weeks before study inclusion
  • Participants who did not respond to prior antidepressant drug treatment, electroconvulsive therapy, or sleep deprivation (therapy-resistant depression)
  • Acute suicidality
  • Prior treatment with whole-body hyperthermia
  • Contraindications to hyperthermia treatment: acute or feverish infections, severe cardiovascular diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, heart failure, thrombosis, bleeding diathesis), severe gastrointestinal diseases (e.g. renal insufficiency, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, peptic ulcer), severe neurological diseases (e.g. epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular malformations or brain tumors), severe endocrine diseases (e.g. hyperthyroidism), or oncological diseases without remission
  • Participants taking anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive drugs
  • Participants with severe psychiatric comorbidities (e.g. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, dementia, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, alcohol or drug addiction)
  • Women during pregnancy and breastfeeding
  • Lack of ability to consent

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Whole-body hyperthermiaWhole-body hyperthermiaWhole-body hyperthermia will be applied 2 times during 4 weeks. At week 6, the primary outcome will be assessed. The participants will be reassessed 12 weeks after the start of the treatment with whole-body hyperthermia.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Depression Severity: clinician-ratedweek 6

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17)

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Global improvement: clinician-ratedweek 6

Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI)

Fatigue: patient-ratedweek 12

Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI)

Global Improvement: clinician-ratedweek 12

Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI)

Stress: patient-ratedweek 12

Perceived Stress-Scale (PSS)

Biomarkers: tumor necrosis factor alphaweek 12

TNF-alpha

Biomarkers: high-sensitivity C-reactive proteinweek 12

hs-CRP

Biomarkers: tryptophanweek 12

tryptophan

Biomarkers: kynurenineweek 12

kynurenine

Biomarkers: neopterinweek 12

neopterin

Biomarkers: interleukin 2week 12

IL-2

Depression Severity: clinician-ratedweek 12

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17)

Depression Severity: patient-ratedweek 12

Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)

Global Functioning: clinician-ratedweek 12

Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF)

Quality of Life: patient-ratedweek 12

Short Form Health Survey (SF-12)

Biomarkers: interleukin 6week 12

IL-6

Biomarkers: interleukin 10week 12

IL-10

Biomarkers: soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1week 12

sICAM-1

Adverse Eventsweek 12

Number of patients with adverse events, total number and type of adverse events

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Addiciton Medicine, Evang. Kliniken Essen-Mitte

🇩🇪

Essen, Germany

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