Psilocybin for End-of-Life Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Chia‐ling Yu, Fu-Chi Yang, Szu‐nian Yang, Ping-Tao Tseng, Brendon Stubbs, Ta‐chuan Yeh, Chih-Wei Hsu, Dian‐jeng Li, Chih-Sung Liang
Psychiatry Investigation October 10, 2021 DOI: 10.30773/pi.2021.0209 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review and meta-analysis Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients with end-of-life anxiety |
| Intervention | Psilocybin-assisted therapy |
| Topics | Anxiety Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Placebo Tolerability Discontinuation Adverse effect Meta-analysis Randomized controlled trial Confidence interval |
| Citations | 57 |
| Key findings | Psilocybin was superior to placebo in reducing state and trait anxiety in patients with end-of-life anxiety, with transient blood pressure increases and no serious adverse events. |
Abstract
Objective To systematically examine the effectiveness and tolerability of psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms.Methods The Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, and PsycINFO databases were searched up to November 25, 2020. We enrolled clinical trials investigating psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects model.Results Overall, five studies were included, revealing that psilocybin was superior to the placebo in treating state anxiety at 1 day (Hedges’ g, -0.70; 95% confidence interval, -1.01 to -0.39) and 2 weeks (-1.03; -1.47 to -0.60) after treatment. Psilocybin was more effective than placebo in treating trait anxiety at 1 day (-0.71; -1.15 to -0.26), 2 weeks (-1.08; -1.80 to -0.36), and 6 months (-0.84; -1.37 to -0.30) after treatment. Psilocybin was associated with transient elevation in systolic (19.00; 13.58–24.41 mm Hg) and diastolic (8.66; 5.18–12.15 mm Hg) blood pressure compared with placebo. The differences between psilocybin and placebo groups with regard to allcause discontinuation, serious adverse events, and heart rates were nonsignificant.Conclusion Psilocybin-assisted therapy could ameliorate end-of-life anxiety symptoms without serious adverse events. Because of the small sample sizes of the included studies and high heterogeneity on long-term outcomes, future randomized controlled trials with large sample sizes are needed.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on psilocybin for anxiety, most cited first.