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Low Intensity 'Blue Light' Treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder

NCT01149135 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 22

Last updated 2011-08-10

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

One of the most frequently investigated hypothesis of the pathophysiology underlying Seasonal Affective Disorder(SAD) or so called winter depression is a disturbance of circadian rhythms. Since the circadian system is especially sensitive for the blue portion of the light spectrum, a new light therapy device with more blue light (blue enriched polychromatic light) was tested for its efficacy to treat SAD. In chronobiological terms this light is hypothesized to be more potent in inducing non-visual effects. In the present study fluorescent tubes that emit a high portion of short wavelength light on top of the normal wavelengths are tested for its superiority in treating SAD. This blue-enriched light (colour temperature 17000 ºK) is compared to standard light treatment (5000 º K) in SAD patients.,In a earlier study it was shown that the therapeutic effect of blue enriched light were equal to standard light treatment using light in both conditions with an intensity of 10 000 lux. In the present study, blue enriched light with an intensity of 750 lux was used, because of the possible saturation effect in the former study. The investigators hypothesise that blue- enriched light with a low intensity improve the therapeutic effects of light treatment leading to a higher response or the same response in a shorter time schedule compared to standard light treatment.

Conditions

  • Seasonal Affective Disorder

Interventions

DEVICE

Blue enriched light with a low intensity

30 minutes in the morning, 750 lux

DEVICE

standard light treatment

standard light treatment, 30 minutes, 10 000 lux

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University Medical Center Groningen

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2008-10-31
Primary Completion
2009-03-31
Completion
2009-03-31

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01149135 on ClinicalTrials.gov