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Methodological concerns in umbrella review of serotonin and depression

Molecular Psychiatry (2024)Cite this article

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We are writing to point out a number of methodological shortcomings in a recent publication in Molecular Psychiatry, “The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence” by Moncrieff et al., which we believe to be substantive and of great concern to the mental health research community, especially in the context of media attention the article and its authors have received. Most importantly, these methodological issues compromise the transparency and reproducibility of the findings presented by the authors, thereby calling into question the main conclusions reached.

Umbrella reviews are typically “reviews of reviews” and consist of the quality-based methodological appraisal of data from meta-analyses and systematic reviews. The authors note “we chose to include meta-analyses that did not involve a systematic review and a large genetic association study on the premise that these studies contribute important data on the question of whether the serotonin hypothesis of depression is supported”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Andrew L. Smith & Marco Solmi

  2. Department of Mental Health, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Andrew L. Smith & Marco Solmi

  3. IMPACT (Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment) Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Barwon Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Andre F. Carvalho

  4. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) Clinical Epidemiology Program University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Marco Solmi

  5. School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Marco Solmi

  6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    Marco Solmi

Authors
  1. Andrew L. Smith
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  2. Andre F. Carvalho
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  3. Marco Solmi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew L. Smith.

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Competing interests

AS and AC have no COIs to report. MS received honoraria/has been a consultant for Angelini, Lundbeck, and Otsuka.

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Smith, A.L., Carvalho, A.F. & Solmi, M. Methodological concerns in umbrella review of serotonin and depression. Mol Psychiatry (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02460-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02460-5

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