Experience with St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) in children under 12years with symptoms of depression and psychovegetative disturbances

The value of an extract of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) for childr en with mild to moderate depressive symptoms was investigated for the first time in a multi-centre post-marketing surveillance study. One hundred and one children under 12 years were treated for a minimum of 4 weeks with an e xtension to 6 weeks with parental consent and medical practitioner recommen dation, the dosage used ranged from 300 to 1800 mg per day. Compliance, tol erability and efficacy were assessed every 2 weeks by physicians and parent s, Based on the data available for analysis, the number of physicians ratin g effectiveness as 'good' or 'excellent' was 72% after 2 weeks, 97% after 4 weeks and 100% after 6 weeks. The ratings by parents were very similar. Th ere was, however, an increasing amount of missing data at each assessment p oint with the final evaluation including only 76% of the initial sample. To lerability was good and no adverse events were reported, The results of thi s study suggest that Hypericum is a potentially safe and effective treatmen t for children with symptoms of depression. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.