Primary care and community interventions for multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety: systematic…

Meta-analysisBMJ medicine· 2026

Primary care and community interventions for multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety: systematic review with meta-analysis.

Kieran Sweeney, Michaela Gilarova, Lauren Ng … Lucy E Stirland

Chronic Disease ManagementMeta-analysisTreatmentQ1IF 7.3

Patient-oriented interventions reduced depression symptoms in multimorbidity with depression or anxiety

Primary care and community interventions for multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety: systematic review with meta-analysis.

Kieran Sweeney … Lucy E Stirland

BMJ medicine · 2026 · Q1 in General Medicine

Purpose

To identify and characterise primary care or community based interventions for patients with multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety, and to determine their effectiveness for improving patients' mental health, physical health, and quality of life.

Methods

Components were systematically categorised, and effects on mental health and quality of life outcomes were meta-analysed in groups defined by intervention type and assessment time point.

n = 9487 participants

Results

depression symptoms eased more with patient oriented care than usual care

MD -0.46 (95% CI -0.71 to -0.21)

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

In the subgroup analysis, collaborative care resulted in sustained improvements in symptoms of depression at 18-24 months.

More results

Synthesis without meta-analysis showed evidence of benefit from organisational interventions (specifically collaborative care) on physiological (eg, haemoglobin A 1c levels), but not on functional (eg, disability) or global physical health outcomes.

“

Conclusion

The study showed that interventions improved mental health, physical health, and quality of life outcomes in people with multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety, but the effects were small and, for patient oriented interventions in particular, diminished over time.

Primary care and community interventions for multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety: systematic review with meta-analysis.

Primary care and community interventions for multimorbidity involving depression or anxiety: systematic review with meta-analysis.

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