St. John's Wort and Antidepressant Drug Interactions in the Elderly

Abstract

There is increasing interest in and use of the herbal preparation St. John's wort. Hypericin, the major active ingre dient, has many psychoactive properties. The agent is sold in the US as a nutritional supplement and is recommended for numerous conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and inflammation. We report a series of five cases of clinically diagnosed central serotonergic syndrome among elderly patients who combined prescription antide pressants with St. John's wort. Older adults are large consumers of both over-the-counter and prescription medications. They are particularly vulnerable to interactions between medications and products sold as nutritional or herbal supplements. St. John's wort requires further evaluation due to potential for drug interactions with central ner vous system agents and for more definitive therapeutic indications. ( J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1999; 12:7-10).