Systematic review on efficacy and safety of Morinda officinalis oligosaccharide capsule in the treatment of depression
HAN Shuhong
DU Yang
YAO Mingmu
DU Biao
Abstract：Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Morinda officinalis oligosaccharide cap-sule(MOC)in the treatment of depression.Methods Relevant literatures were searched from the CNKI,WangFang,VIP,SinoMed,PubMed,Embase,and The Cochrane Library,etc.Randomized controlled trials(RCTs)evaluating the efficacy and safety of MOC for the treatment of depression were searched between January 1,1994,and February 28,2025.Review Manager 5.3 software was used for this meta-analysis.Moreover,publication bias was assessed via funnel plots and Egger's test with Stata 18.0 software.Results A total of 11 studies were included,involving 2,114 patients.All studies were assessed as low risk of bias.Patients were divided into the treatment and control groups(including a posi-tive drug group and a placebo group).Meta-analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between the treatment group and the control group(RR=1.05,95%CI:0.95-1.15,P>0.05)or the positive drug group(RR=0.99,95%CI:0.94-1.05,P>0.05),and the efficacy rate of the treatment group was higher than that of the placebo group(RR=1.78,95%CI:1.44-2.21,P<0.01).The treatment group demonstrated lower Hamilton Depression Scale 17-item(HAMD-17)scores than the control group(MD=-1.29,95%CI:-2.75 to 0.17,P<0.01)and the placebo group(MD=-4.62,95%CI:-5.73 to-3.52,P<0.01).There was no statistically significant difference between the placebo group and the positive drug group(MD=-0.17,95%CI:-1.87 to 1.53,P>0.05).The efficacy rate of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in the treatment group was not significantly different from that in the control group(RR=1.14,95%CI:1.00-1.31,P=0.05)or the positive drug group(RR=1.06,95%CI:0.99-1.13,P>0.05),and was significantly higher than that in the placebo group(RR=1.71,95%CI:1.27-2.32,P<0.01).The treatment group demonstrated superior scores for kidney-yang deficiency syndrome compared with the placebo group(MD=5.68,95%CI:4.21 to 7.14,P<0.05).However,no statistically significant difference was observed between the treatment group and the positive drug group(MD=-0.28,95%CI:-1.63 to 1.07,P>0.05)or the control group(MD=1.60,95%CI:-0.98 to 4.17,P>0.05).After excluding litera-ture one by one,the subgroup I²,χ²,and P values showed minimal changes,with no reversal of effect directions,indicat-ing low sensitivity and robust results.No significant differences were found in the incidence of common adverse events be-tween the treatment group and the placebo group(OR=0.84,95%CI:0.51-1.38,P>0.05),positive drug group(OR=0.83,95%CI:0.64-1.07,P>0.05),and control group(OR=0.83,95%CI:0.66-1.04,P>0.05).Subgroup analysis revealed that the incidence of dizziness,headache,fatigue,nausea,weight gain,drowsiness,anorexia,and leukopenia was lower in the treatment group than in the positive drug group(all P<0.05).Funnel plots and Egger's test indicated no publication biases(all P<0.05).Conclusion The efficacy of MOC in treating depression is comparable to that of con-ventional antidepressants,and the safety of MOC is higher.
Keywords：depressionMorinda officinalis oligosaccharide capsulecurative effectsafetyMeta-analysissys-tematic review
Publication Date：2025-11-25
Online Publishing Date：2025-12-09(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 37-41 )