Efficacy of herbal combination of sedge, saffron, and Astragalus honey on major neurocognitive disorder

BACKGROUND: Major neurocognitive disorder (MCD) is an acquired progressive decline in cognitive abilities that causes a drop in specific acquired performance compared to former performances. We tried to investigate the efficacy of herbal combination of sedge, saffron, and Astragalus honey on cognitive and depression score of patients with MCD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a randomized double-blind clinical trial conducted on sixty patients with MCD, who referred to the geriatric psychiatry clinic of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. All the study participants had been using anti-MCD medications. Participants were randomized to receive a combination of sedge, saffron, and Astragalus honey in case group (n = 30) or placebo group for 8 weeks other than anti-MCD medications. Cognitive and depression scores were assessed using Addenbrook's Cognitive Scale and Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively, before intervention and at the 1(st) and 2(nd) months after intervention. The ANCOVA repeated-measure test was used to analyze the data using SPSS 20 software. RESULTS: The Addenbrook's Cognitive Test score was 32.2 ± 26.5 in intervention and 22.1 ± 15.1 in control group before intervention (P = 0.074) and 38.8 ± 27.7 in intervention group and 22.6 ± 14.1 in control group in control group 1 month after intervention (P = 0.007). In addition, Geriatric Depression Scale score was 14.6 ± 7.9 in intervention group and 14.5 ± 6.9 in control group before intervention (P = 0.945) and 12.9 ± 6.9 in intervention and 14.3 ± 7.1 in control group 1 month after intervention (P = 0.465) and 12.2 ± 6.5 in intervention group and 14.4 ± 7.1 in control group 2 month after intervention (P = 0.224). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that adding the herbal combination of sedge, saffron, and Astragalus honey to the current protocols of treatment of MCD patients could be useful in the improvement of cognitive and depression score of these patients.