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Article History

Received: 12 April 2018

Accepted: 7 May 2020

First Online: 5 June 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: For the systematic review part of this study, ethics approval was not applicable as it is necessary inclusion criteria for the to-be-evaluated RCTs.Validation of the SOrT metric was conducted using the Munich Antidepressant Response Signature (MARS) study and Emory Predictors of Remission in Depression to Individual and Combined Treatments (PReDICT) study. MARS has received approval from the Ethics Committee of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, and PReDICT from the Emory Institutional Review Board and the Grady Hospital Research Oversight Committee. Both studies were conducted in concordance with the Declaration of Helsinki [,]. Participants’ written informed consent was ascertained in MARS and PReDICT studies [,].

: Consent for publication was not generally applicable for the systematic review as the data from studies included in meta-analyses were in an individual <i>symptom</i> format (see explanation in data extraction and acquisition section), which is fully anonymous. However, we still checked whether authors of RCTs described that written informed consent was obtained, also because we allowed authors to send us individual <i>patient</i> data in case this made sharing of their data more convenient.

: NK, MR, JF, BAA, AGB, MM, GP, AGB, JD, JP, and JKB do not have any competing financial or other interests relating to the content of this study. HSM holds intellectual property in the field of deep brain stimulation for depression and is a consultant to Abbott Labs who has licenced the IP. WEC is a board member of Hugarheill ehf, an Icelandic company dedicated to the prevention of depression, and he receives book royalties from John Wiley & Sons. His research is supported by the NIH, the Mary and John Brock Foundation, and the Fuqua family foundations. He is a consultant to the George West Mental Health Foundation and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the ADAA and AIM for Mental Health. BWD has received research support from Acadia, Assurex Health, Axsome, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Janssen, National Institute of Mental Health, and Takeda. He has served as a consultant to Assurex Health and Aptinyx. CBN has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Stanley Medical Research Institute. In the last 3 years, he has served as a consultant to Xhale, Takeda, Taisho Pharmaceutical Inc., Signant Health, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Research & Development LLC, Magstim, Inc., Navitor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., TC MSO, Inc., Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc., EMA Wellness, Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), and Acadia Pharmaceuticals, and served on the Board of Directors for the Gratitude America, Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), and Xhale Smart, Inc. CBN is a stockholder in Xhale, Celgene, Seattle Genetics, Abbvie, OPKO Health, Inc., Antares, BI Gen Holdings, Inc., Corcept Therapeutics Pharmaceuticals Company, TC MSO, Inc., Trends in Pharma Development, LLC, and EMA Wellness, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF), Xhale, ADAA, Skyland Trail, Signant Health, Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR), Inc. CBN reports income sources or equity of $10,000 or more from American Psychiatric Publishing, Xhale, Signant Health, CME Outfitters, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc., Magstim, and EMA Wellness, and has patents on the method and devices for transdermal delivery of lithium (US 6,375,990B1), the method of assessing antidepressant drug therapy via transport inhibition of monoamine neurotransmitters by ex vivo assay (US 7,148,027B2), and Compounds, Compositions, Methods of Synthesis, and Methods of Treatment (CRF Receptor Binding Ligand) (US 8,551, 996 B2). MK is supported by the NIH and The John J. McDonnell and Margaret T.O. O’Brien Foundation. DNK receives grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). NH is the chair of the board of trustees of Manchester Global Foundation (MGF) which was founded in 2015 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered in England and Wales. NH is the past Trustee of Pakistan Institute of Living & Learning (PILL), Abaseen Foundation and Lancashire Mind. NH has attended educational events sponsored by pharmaceutical industry. RBJ’s medical center collects the payments from the cognitive therapy she provides to patients. RBJ is a paid consultant to the National Institute of Mental Health and is a paid reviewer for UpToDate. She owns stock equity in Amgen, Johnson and Johnson, and Procter and Gamble. JRV is a paid reviewer for UpToDate. JPB received medication and placebo from Pfizer and NIMH funding for the data he contributed to the present study. MEK reports the following potential conflicts of interest: speakers bureau honoraria and other continuing medical education activity: AstraZeneca (Switzerland), Eli Lilly (Switzerland), Lundbeck (Switzerland), Vifor (Switzerland), and Zeller (Switzerland), as well as advisory panel payment from Lundbeck Switzerland.