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. 2020 Nov 30;18(4):621-626.
doi: 10.9758/cpn.2020.18.4.621.

Effectiveness and Tolerability of Korean Red Ginseng Augmentation in Major Depressive Disorder Patients with Difficult-to-treat in Routine Practice

Kyung Ho Lee  1 , Won-Myong Bahk  2 , Soo-Jung Lee  2 , Chi-Un Pae  2   3
Affiliations

Effectiveness and Tolerability of Korean Red Ginseng Augmentation in Major Depressive Disorder Patients with Difficult-to-treat in Routine Practice

Kyung Ho Lee et al. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. .

Abstract

Objective: : To test clinical effectiveness and tolerability of Korean Red Ginseng augmentation (RGA) in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with difficult-to-treat.

Methods: Thirty six patients were enrolled in this 6 weeks, prospective, clinical trial. Rating scales were MontgomeryÅsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Patient Health Questionnaire-15, Clinical Global Impression-improvement (CGI-I), and Patient Satisfaction Score. The primary endpoint was a remission rate measured by MADRS score at the end of study (≤ 10). Clinical outcomes and tolerability were assessed at baseline, week 2, and week 6.

Results: Among 36 patients, 26 patients completed the study and 28 patients had post-baseline visit data. The remission rate by MADRS score was 39.3% (11/28) and 57.1% by CGI-I scores of 1 or 2 at the end of the study. The mean change of MADRS score was significantly decreased by 44.4% from baseline to the end of study. The most frequent adverse events were headache (7/28, 25.0%) during the study.

Conclusion: Our study indicates the putative effectiveness and tolerability of RGA for treating MDD with difficult-to-treat in clinical practice. However, adequately powered, randomized, controlled trials will be needed to confirm these results.

Keywords: Antidepressants; Depressive disorder; Difficult-to-treat.; Red ginseng; Therapeutics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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