Replenishing kidney and regulating qi therapy for postpartum depression: a randomized controlled trial

Objective To observe the efficacy of the replenishing kidney and regulating qi therapy on postpartum depression in the syndrome of kidney-deficiency and liver-depression.Methods According to randomized,controlled and blinding principle,two hundred and one cases were divided into a Chinese medicinal group,an acupuncture and moxibustion group,a Chinese medicinal+acupuncture and moxibustion group and a placebo group.The effective rate of TCM treatment was evaluated by symptom evaluation of TCM syndrome scale and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale(EPDS) and the differences of serum estradiol and progesterone level before and after treatment were measured.Results According to TCM syndrome and EPDS scales,the total effective rates after 2,4,6 weeks of the treatment in the Chinese medicinal group and the Chinese medicinal+acupuncture and moxibustion group were superior to those in the placebo group(P 0.01),while the total effective rates after the treatment for only 4,6 weeks in the acupuncture and moxibustion group were superior to those in the placebo group(P 0.05).Compared with the placebo group,the differences of serum estradiol and progesterone level before and after treatment were both statistically significant in the other groups(P 0.05).The difference of serum estradiol in the Chinese medicinal+acupuncture and moxibustion group was statistically significant compared with that in the Chinese medicinal group or the acupuncture and moxibustion group(P 0.05),and the difference of progesterone level was statistically significant compared with that in the Chinese medicinal group(P 0.05).Conclusion The replenishing kidney and regulating qi therapy has a remarkable effect on postpartum depression in the syndrome ofkidney-deficiency and liver-depression and itsmechanism mightberelated toadjustinghormonelevels.