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World J Psychiatry. Sep 19, 2026; 16(9): 117965
Published online Sep 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.117965
Published online Sep 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.117965
Application of medication therapy management-based “in-hospital assessment - home-based intervention” pharmaceutical care in patients with depression
Mei-Fang Wang, Hui-Min Zhang, Xiao-Lan Zhang, Department of Pharmacy, Rugao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nantong 226500, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Mei-Fang Wang and Hui-Min Zhang.
Author contributions: Wang MF was responsible for developing the methodology; Zhang HM participated in the formal analysis and investigation; Wang MF wrote the original draft; Zhang XL designed the study and participated in the manuscript revision. Wang MF and Zhang HM contributed equally as the co-first authors.
AI contribution statement: The authors did not employ any AI-based tools (including but not limited to ChatGPT, Grammarly, DeepL, or similar software) during the preparation of the manuscript and “Answering-Reviewers” document.
Supported by Scientific Research Project of Nantong Municipal Health Commission, No. MSZ2024091.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Rugao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Approval No. RGSZYYLL2025001), and strictly followed the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Clinical trial registration statement: This trial was not prospectively registered in a clinical trial registry, which is a limitation of the study design.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided written informed consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: Available for public sharing. Reasonable requests can be made to the corresponding author.
Corresponding author: Xiao-Lan Zhang, Chief Pharmacist, Department of Pharmacy, Rugao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 269 Dasima Road, Rucheng Town, Rugao City, Nantong 226500, Jiangsu Province, China. 3510294515@qq.com
Received: December 22, 2025
Revised: March 15, 2026
Accepted: July 14, 2026
Published online: September 19, 2026
Processing time: 247 Days and 20.4 Hours
Revised: March 15, 2026
Accepted: July 14, 2026
Published online: September 19, 2026
Processing time: 247 Days and 20.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: To our knowledge, this is the first medication therapy management-based “in-hospital assessment - home-based intervention” model for depression care, addressing treatment discontinuity. It significantly improved 9-month medication adherence from 46.15% to 76.92% and reduced the 9-month relapse rate from 23.08% to 9.62% compared with conventional care. The model was associated with a 66.7% reduction in hospitalization risk, a 38.1% reduction in direct medical costs, and a 25-percentage-point reduction in the incidence of adverse drug reactions, offering an efficient pathway for comprehensive depression management. Standardized effect sizes (Cohen’s d) for primary outcome was 1.24, indicating large clinical benefits.