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St John's wort was no better than placebo for reducing depression scores

Design
Randomised (allocation concealed^*), blinded {clinicians, patients, outcome assessors, and statisticians},^* placebo controlled trial with 8 weeks of follow up.

Setting
11 academic medical centres in the USA.

Patients
200 physically healthy outpatients who were 18 years of age (mean age 42.4 y, 64% women); had major depression (single episode or recurrent) without psychotic features according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition for 4 weeks; and scored 20 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Exclusion criteria included having cognitive, post-traumatic stress, eating, or substance use disorders in the previous 6 months; panic disorder in the previous year; and bipolar, psychotic, or primary personality disorders. Patients who improved during the 1 week placebo run-in period were also excluded. 84% of patients completed the study.

Intervention
Patients were allocated to St John's wort, 1 300 mg tablet 3 times daily (n=98), or to placebo (n=102) for 8 . . . [Full text of this article]

Chris Hawley, MB, BS, Tim Gale, PhD

University of Hertfordshire Hertfordshire, UK