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To the Editor: Dr Shelton and colleagues1 found that St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) was ineffective to treat chronic major depression. St John's wort, however, is generally recommended for use in mild-to-moderate depressive disorders. From the study design, it is unclear whether any medication would have been effective in this sample since no patient received conventional antidepressant medications and an unusually low placebo response rate occurred (18.6%, as compared with the usual 30% to 50% placebo response in other trials on depression). We find no evidence in this study that precludes potential benefits for patients who were less severely and chronically depressed. In fact, according to one definition of remission, a significantly greater percentage of patients responded to St John's wort (14.3%) than to placebo (4.9%), even in this study.
Finally, these data were reported at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in May 2000.2 However, the number of dropouts was reported to be 43 (23.4%) at the meeting but only 28 in their article. The authors must account for this discrepancy.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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