Efficacy of the kampo medicine xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (kyuki-chouketsu-in), a traditional herbal medicine, in the treatment of maternity blues syndrome in the postpartum period.

This study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in), a Japanese traditional herbal medicine, in stabilizing postpartum psychological state. We enrolled 268 women who had a normal delivery in Osaka Medical College Hospital or its affiliated clinics and randomly assigned them to the following two groups: a group of 134 women who received Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) at a dose of 6.0 g/day and another group of 134 women without Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) (control group). We observed 2.06-fold and 1.67-fold higher incidences of depressive mood and nervousness, respectively, after delivery in the control group than in the Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) group. Within 3 weeks of postpartum, there was a significant difference in the incidences of maternity blues between the Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) group (15.7%; 21/134) and the control group (32.1%; 43/134) (p = 0.0195). No adverse effects were observed in this study. The results of this study demonstrate the beneficial clinical effects of Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) in stabilizing psychological state in the postpartum period. Xiong-gui-tiao-xue-yin (Kyuki-chouketsu-in) can be expected to improve the mental health of women in the postpartum period and prevent maternity blues.