| Disease | RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE BLIND MULTICENTER COMPARATIVE TRIAL THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE 80% METHANOL EXTRACT OF THE HERB WAS ASSESSED PATIENTS WITH SEVERE DEPRESSIVE SYNDROME(ICD-10 F33.2). PATIENTS(N=209) WERE TREATED WITH 1800 MG/DAY OF THE STANDARIZE
EXTRACT OR 150 MG/DAY OF IMIPRAMINE FOR 6 WEEKS. THE SUBJECTS WERE ASSESSED AT BASELINE AND THEN AT 1,2,4,6 WEEKS AFTER TREATMENT ACCORDING TO THE HAMILTON DEPRESSION SCALE(HAMD), VON ZERSSEN'S DEPRESSION SCALE(ZDS), AND CLINICAL GLOBAL
IMPRESSIONS SCALE(CGI). CHANGES IN THE HAMD FROM BASELINE TO 6 WEEKS: 25.3 TO 14.4 IN THE EXTRACT TREATED PATIENTS, AND 26.1 TO 13.4 IN THE AMITRIPTYLINE TREATED PATIENTS (P<0.021). CHANGES IN THE ZDS, 28.9 TO 13.6 IN THE EXTRACT TREATED
PATIENTS, AND 26 TO 6.5 IN THE AMITRIPTYLINE TREATED PATIENTS (P<0.05). RESULTS IN THE CGI SCALE SHOWED A TREND IN FAVOR OF IMIPRAMINE. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EXTRACT WAS NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT TO THAT OF IMIPRAMINE, HOWEVER, ANALYSIS
OF THE SUBGROUPS SHOWED THAT EFFICACY OF THE METHANOL EXTRACT WAS BETTER IN MODERATELY SEVERE DEPRESSION. |