Placebo-controlled doubleblind study examining the effectiveness of an hypericum preparation in 105 mildly depressed patients. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol

One hundred and five outpatients with mild depressions of short duration were treated in a double-blind study with either 3 x 300 mg hypericum extract or placebo. The therapy phase was 4 weeks. The effectiveness was judged according to the Hamilton Depression Scale after 2 and 4 weeks. The values of the mean basic score in these periods fell from 15.8 to 9.6 or 7.2 in the active group, and in the placebo group, from 15.8 to 12.3 and 11.3. The differences between active and placebo groups were statistically significant with P <.05 and P <.01 achieved after 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. In the active group, 28 of 42 patients (67%) and, in the placebo group, 13 of 47 patients (28%) responded to treatment. Notable side effects were not found. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1994; 7(suppl 1): S9-S11). Mild and moderate depressive states predominate in outpatient medical practice. If drug treatment is indi-cated, the most important factor is good tolerability, since the patients often continue to work. Several compara-tive trials with placebo have been carried out using hypericum dried extractsl-4 but only with up to 50 pa-tients. This multicenter trial in more than 90 outpa-tients with depressive affective states examines the ef-ficacy and safety of hypericum preparation LI 160 (Jarsin @ 300, Lichtwer Pharma). PATIENTS AND METHOD