Contributions of authors
Richard Morriss (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2910-4121) (Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham) was the chief investigator of the study, obtained funding for the study and study permissions, designed the study, led its conduct, and wrote the first draft of the report with Lucy Webster and Luke Ingram. He is the guarantor of the study.
Lucy Webster (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0424-2587) (lead research assistant, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) designed the qualitative analysis of the study, collected the clinical and qualitative data for the Nottingham site, analysed the imaging and qualitative data, and wrote the first draft of the EME report with Richard Morriss and Luke Ingram.
Luke Ingram (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5711-7400) (trial manager, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Leicester) was the trial co-ordinator from 2021, obtained permissions for the study, and wrote the first draft of the EME report with Richard Morriss and Lucy Webster.
Mohamed Abdelghani (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9888-6588) (consultant psychiatrist, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust) was the principal investigator for the London site, including the clinical lead for TMS at the site, and obtained funding for the study as a grant applicant. He helped to design the TMS treatment delivery and interpret the TMS analysis. He commented on the first draft of the report.
Adriana Anton (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1356-4513) (magnetic resonance physicist, University of Nottingham) carried out the second MRS analysis of GABA and the first of glutamate Cr.
Shaun Barber (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8073-2687) (medical statistician, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Leicester) helped to the design the clinical trial, carried out power calculations for the study, helped to design the statistical analysis plan for the clinical trial and advised on the anaalysis of the MRS data. He produced a first draft of the clinical trial results.
Peter Bates (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0558-6907) (patient and public involvement co-ordinator, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) helped to design and led the PPI in the study throughout. He commented on drafts of the report and helped to design the analysis of the PPI contribution to the report.
Paul Briley (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5372-6505) (Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Nottingham) helped to design and carried out the MRI analysis of the study and the first draft of the functional MRI analysis and interpretation. He advised on the statistical analysis of the THINC-it data.
Clement Boutry (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6781-2201) (research assistant, University of Nottingham) carried out analysis of the qualitative data along with Lucy Webster and Louise Thompson.
Cassandra Brookes (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0084-0400) (Senior Statistician, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Leicester) was the lead statistician for the clinical trial and grant holder. She supervised the statistical analysis and the first draft of the clinical trial results.
Edward Cox (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-0699) (Senior Health Economist, University of Nottingham) carried out the economic analysis of the trial data and wrote the first draft of the health economics report.
Beth Hall (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5812-3121) (research fellow, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust) carried out the THINC-it analysis with Hamish McAllister-Williams and drafted the THINC-it analysis report.
Marilyn James (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0408-7898) (Professor of Health Economics, University of Nottingham) was the health economics lead for the study, designed the health economics analysis, and was the grant holder. She co-wrote the health economics part of the report.
Matthew Keane (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8428-9870) (health economist, University of Nottingham) carried out the economic analysis of the trial data and wrote the first draft of the health economics report.
Micheal Kurkar (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9424-0747) (consultant psychiatrist, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust) was the principal investigator at the Oldham site in the study and was the clinical lead for TMS at the site.
Sudheer Lankappa (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2804-7877) (consultant psychiatrist, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) was the principal investigator at the Nottingham site and the TMS clinical lead at Nottingham. He helped to devise the TMS intervention for the study and was a grant holder.
Peter Liddle (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6473-7640) (Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham) helped to devise the neuroimaging for the study including the method of computation of the TMS stimulation sites from MRI data. He was a grant holder.
Hamish McAllister-Williams (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9966-1834) (Professor of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle) was the principal investigator at the Newcastle site including being the clinical lead for the Newcastle site. He devised the THINC-it analysis and adapted the MGHS measure of treatment resistance for the study.
Hyerin Oh (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5179-2480) (research fellow, University of Nottingham) carried out the MRS for the study.
Alexander O’Neill-Kerr (https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0023-4152) (consultant psychiatrist, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) was the principal investigator at the Northampton site and supervised the TMS delivery at Northampton. He helped to devise the TMSS treatment in the study and was a grant holder.
Jehill Parikh (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6504-9239) (research fellow, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Centre, University of Newcastle) helped to design the MRS and analysis.
Stefan Pszczolkowski (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5859-3190) (research fellow, Precision Imaging Beacon, University of Nottingham) wrote the computer programme and automated method for calculating the site of TMS stimulation from MRI data, and calculated the precision of TMS stimulation delivered by the neuronavigation from the MRI calculated target site.
Ana Suazo Di Paola (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8523-8557) (medical statistician, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Leicester) provided statistical support throughout the study and carried out the statistical analysis under the supervision of Shaun Barber and Cassandra Brookes. She wrote the first draft of the statistical analysis plan and the first draft of the statistical results with them.
Louise Thomson (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1736-7506) (associate professor of occupational psychology, University of Nottingham) was the qualitative methods lead for the study and supervised all the qualitative analysis. She was also a grant holder.
Yvette Walters (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8691-0440) (trial manager, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Leicester) was the study manager from the inception of the trial until September 2021. She then supervised Luke Ingram took over the role.
Dorothee Auer (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4745-3635) (Professor of Neuroimaging, University of Nottingham) was the neuroimaging lead for the study and obtained funding for the study as a grant applicant. She designed the MRI design with Peter Liddle, and the MRS design as well as the MRI analysis with Paul Briley and Peter Liddle, and the MRS analysis with Hyerin Oh and Jehil Parikh.
Data-sharing statement
All data requests should be submitted to the corresponding author for consideration. Access to anonymised data may be granted following review.
Ethics statement
The project received NHS ethics approval from the East Midlands-Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee (REC reference 18/EM/0232, IRAS project ID 245025) on 30 August 2018.
Information governance statement
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is committed to handling all personal information in line with the UK Data Protection Act (2018) and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) 2016/679. Under the Data Protection legislation, Mark Howells is the Data Controller, and you can find out more about how we handle personal data, including how to exercise your individual rights and the contact details for our Data Protection Officer here: https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/privacy-policy#:~:text=The%20nominated%20Data%20Protection%20Officer,%40nottshc.nhs.uk.
Disclosure of interests
Full disclosure of interests: Completed ICMJE forms for all authors, including all related interests, are available in the toolkit on the NIHR Journals Library report publication page at https://doi.org/10.3310/WVNY5029.
Primary conflicts of interest: Richard Morriss has received funding from Novartis for sitting on a Data Monitoring Ethics Committee. Mohamed Abdelghani has received funding for advising manufacturers of equipment for transcranial magnetic stimulation. Hamish McAllister-Williams has received funding from Liva Nova for consultancy and P1Vital for chairing a Data Monitoring Ethics Committee.
Publication
Morriss R, Briley PM, Webster L, Abdelghani M, Barber S, Bates P, et al. Connectivity-guided intermittent theta burst versus repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: a randomized controlled trial. Nat Med 2024;30:403–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02764-z
Disclaimers
This article presents independent research. The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, the MRC, the EME programme or the Department of Health and Social Care. If there are verbatim quotations included in this publication the views and opinions expressed by the interviewees are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the authors, those of the NHS, the NIHR, the EME programme or the Department of Health and Social Care.