The effectiveness of Transcranial Photobiomodulation therapy (tPBM) on reducing anxiety, depression, and opioid craving in patients undergoing methadone maintenance treatment: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial
Abstract
The effects of tPBMT are from influencing compounds by triggering specific reactions, which stimulate Adenosine triphosphate biosynthesis and neurogenesis. According to these effects, tPBMT has been applied as a potential treatment for various neural-related diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of tPBMT on reducing anxiety, depression, and opioid craving in patients undergoing MMT. This randomized controlled clinical trial included two groups of substance-dependent patients undergoing MMT. They were randomly assigned to receive tPBMT or a sham tPBMT. The intervention group received PBM in the form of Light- Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for four minutes of light exposure at 810 nm wavelength producing 250 mW/cm2 when applied to 4 mm skin depth (totaling 60 J/cm2) in both forehead locations. The levels of anxiety, depression, and opioid craving were compared between the two groups before and after the intervention, as well as at one-month and three-month follow-up assessments. Both groups consisted of 32 (91.4%) males and 3 (8.6%) females, with the mean age of patients in the intervention group being 37.97 ± 10.58 years, and 39.66 ± 9.94 years in the control group (P = 0.495). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of depression, anxiety, and opioid craving scale scores before the intervention (p>0.05). However, the tPBMT group had statistically significant reductions in their scores compared to the sham tPBMT group. (p<0.05).…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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