A Chinese herbal formula shows beneficial effects on comorbid depression and coronary heart disease based on the philosophy of psycho-cardiology

Publication date: Available online 20 September 2019Source: Journal of Herbal MedicineAuthor(s): Ying Wang, Yu-Jie Liu, Feng-E Li, Zhi Guo, Jun Wang, Comorbid Depression and Coronary Heart Disease Research Group of Cangzhou Central HospitalAbstractDepression is one of the major risk factors for the development, progression and prognosis of coronary heart disease (CHD). Patients with depression and CHD have high mortality and morbidity. Conventional antidepressant therapies achieve limited success in CHD patients. The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of a formulation of Chinese herbal medicine called the “Bu Xin Qi decoction (BXQD)” on the symptoms of depression and cardiac prognosis in patients with comorbid depression and CHD. Chinese patients with symptoms that fulfilled the diagnosis criteria were recruited. A total of 280 patients were eligible and randomized to receive escitalopram or BXQD for 8 weeks and follow-up for additional 4 weeks post-treatment. The primary endpoints included episodes of angina pectoris and duration, HAM-D score. Other outcome measures contained the incidence of cardiac events, the levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), adrenaline (NE) and 5-serotonin (5-HT). After 8-week treatment, BXQD significantly decreased episodes and duration of angina pectoris from baseline. HAM-D score was also remarkably decreased in both treatment group. Cardiac events were 11% in the BXQD-treated group a...
Source: Journal of Herbal Medicine - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research