Review articleClinical use of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) in depression: A meta-analysis

•This is the most up-to-date, large-scale meta-analysis of St John's wort.•Studies published in English, German and Chinese were examined.•27 clinical trials with a total of 3808 patients were reviewed.•St John's wort had comparable efficacy as SSRIs for mild-moderate depression.•Lower discontinuation or dropout rate as compared to SSRIs.

IntroductionSt John's wort is a popular herbal remedy recommended by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners and licensed and widely prescribed for depression in many European countries. However, conflicting data regarding its benefits and risks exist, and the last large meta-analysis on St John's wort use for depression was done in 2008, with no updated meta-analysis available.MethodsUsing the keywords [St John's Wort OR Hypericum perforatum OR hypericin OR hyperforin OR johanniskraut OR圣约翰草] AND [depression OR antidepressant OR SSRI], a preliminary search (without language restriction) on the PubMed, Ovid, Clinical Trials Register of the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, Cochrane Field for Complementary Medicine, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and WanFang database yielded 5428 papers between 1-Jan-1960 and 1-May-2016.Results27 clinical trials with a total of 3808 patients were reviewed, comparing the use of St John's wort and SSRI. In patients with depression, St John's wort demonstrated comparable response (pooled RR 0.983, 95% CI 0.924-1.042, p<0.001) and remission (pooled RR 1.013, 95% CI 0.892-1.134, p<0.001) rate, and significantly lower discontinuation/dropout (pooled OR 0.587, 95% CI 0.478-0.697, p<0.001) rate compared to standard SSRIs. The pooled SMD from baseline HAM-D scores (pooled SMD −0.068, 95% CI −0.127 to 0.021, p<0.001) also support its significant clinical efficacy in ameliorating depressive symptoms.LimitationsEvidence on the long-term efficacy and safety of St. John's wort is limited as the duration of all available studies ranged from 4 to 12 weeks. It is also unclear if St John's wort would be beneficial for patients with severe depression, high suicidality or suicide risk.ConclusionFor patients with mild-to-moderate depression, St John's wort has comparable efficacy and safety when compared to SSRIs. Follow-up studies carried out over a longer duration should be planned to ascertain its benefits.