Meta-Analysis of Sleep Deprivation Effects on Patients With Depression.

Depression is a common disorder with a high recurrence rate. Since the effect of sleep deprivation on depression in existing studies were inconsistent, the present study aimed to reassess the effects of SD on patients by performing a meta-analysis of updated research. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched for articles before January 20th, 2021. Data on participant characteristics, SD characteristics, adjunctive method and tests for depression were extracted. A comprehensive analysis was conducted to assess the effect of SD on depression and subgroup analysis was used to determine the sources of heterogeneity. In total, 8 articles were included. An SD time of <7 days slightly worsened depression levels [0.24 (-0.21, 0.69); = 0%; = 0.43], a time of 7-14 days had antidepressant effects [-1.52 (-2.07, -0.97); = 19.6%; = 0.288], and a time of more than 14 days also worsened depression [0.76 (0.12, 1.40); = 43.7%; = 0.169]. SD may serve as an effective antidepressant measure in humans when the time was 7-14 days, while a time of <7 days and more than 14 days worsened depression.