Effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine granules and traditional Chinese medicine–based psychotherapy for perimenopausal depression in Chinese women: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-based psychotherapy (TBP) on perimenopausal depression (PMD). Methods: This multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in nine hospitals in China between August 2015 and June 2017. The study included 307 women with PMD who were divided randomly into two treatment groups: the Bushen Tiaogan formula (BSTG) plus TBP (n = 156) and placebo plus TBP (n = 151). All participants underwent treatment for 8 weeks and were followed up for 4 weeks. The primary outcome measures included scores of the Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Secondary outcomes included serum levels of sex hormones and lipids, as well as adverse events. Results: The average GCS, SDS, and SAS scores after treatment were significantly lower in the BSTG-plus-TBP group than those in the placebo-plus-TBP group, and the differences were greatest at the end of the 12th week: the average GCS scores were 10.8 in the BSTG-plus-TBP group versus 18.5 in the placebo-plus-TBP group (P 
Source: Menopause - Category: OBGYN Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research