Clinical research on "Ditan Huayu Decoction" in preventing and treating post-stroke depression

Objective To observe the effects of "Ditan Huayu Decoction" in preventing and treating post-stroke depression(PSD).Methods One hundred and two patients were randomly divided into two groups.Sixty-two patients in treatment group were treated with Chinese medicine combined with routine therapy and forty patients in control group were treated with routine therapy only.The depression disorder and clinical neurological deficits were assessed by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD-17) and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) respectively.Results Compared with control group,the occurence rate of PSD in two treatment groups was decreased significantly.After three months,the occurrence of PSD in one-month-treatment group was lower than that in the control group(P0.05);compared with control group,the HAMD and NIHSS were improved,and the HAMD and NIHSS were improved significantly in one-month-treatment group(P0.05,P0.01).In the third months,all the indexes were better than the two-week-treatment group(P0.05,P0.01).Conclusion "Ditan Huayu Decoction" can reduce the incidence of PSD at early stage and relieve neurological deficits significantly.