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TerminatedNCT04093960Updated Sep 18, 2019

Escitalopram Plus PS128 vs. Escitalopram

A Phase 4 interventional study of Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 in Major Depression, sponsored by Kaohsiung Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital. Terminated at 1 site in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-09-18.

Sponsored by Kaohsiung Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 9 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Nov 2016, registered Sep 2019).
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
41
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
20 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of escitalopram plus PS128 to escitalopram in the acute treatment of patients with major depressive disorder.

Read the detailed description

In this 6-week, double-blind, fixed-dose study, patients with major depressive disorder are randomly assigned to escitalopram (10 mg daily) plus PS128 (a psychobiotic) (300 mg two times daily, equivalent to 3 ×1010 CFU two times daily) or escitalopram (10 mg daily) groups. The rating scales and instrument, including Clinical Global Impression-Severity, 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Global Assessment of Functioning, Heart Rate Variability, Depression and Somatic Symptoms Scale, Work and Social Adjustment Scale, Short form 36 and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, are used to measure treatment outcomes at weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. UKU Side Effect Rating Scale and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale-Irritable Bowel Syndrome are used to measure side effects. Generalized estimating equations model will be used to analyze the differences between two groups with respect to efficacy and safety measures on time after adjusting for baseline severity, sex, age and age at onset of illness.

02

Conditions studied

  • Major Depression

Keywords

  • psychobiotics
  • major depressive disorder
  • escitalopram
03

In context

Depressive Disorder, Major

3,041 studies on the registry are indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major; 588 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 41 is below the median of 79 across 2,530 interventional studies indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major.

Browse Depressive Disorder, Major studies →

Lead sponsor

Kaohsiung Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Major depressive disorder
  • CGI >=4
  • the score of the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) was 18 or higher.
  • washout of antipsychotics at least 3 days
  • written informed consents
  • Not taking fluoxetine at least one month before admission.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or organic mental disorders.
  • comorbid with substance abuse/dependence in the past 6 months.
  • with psychotic features
  • treatment-resistant depression or receiving electroconvulsive therapy.
  • History of serious adverse events to escitalopram
  • female subjects with pregnancy or lactation.
  • severe physical illness
  • receiving antibiotics treatment in the past two weeks.
  • taking products with probiotics.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
41 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    escitalopram plus128

    escitalopram (10 mg daily) plus PS128(a psychobiotic) (300 mg two times daily, equivalent to 3 ×1010 CFU two times daily)

    Dietary Supplement: Lactobacillus plantarum PS128

  • Active comparator
    escitalopram

    10 mg/d of escitalopram

    Dietary Supplement: Lactobacillus plantarum PS128

Interventions

  • 10 mg qd of escitalopram qd plus 300mg bid of Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 to enhance antidepressive effect

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Depression severity by the change of 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) total scores

    17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) is widely used in clinical setting to evaluate depression symptoms in the past week. Higher total HAMD-17 scores (ranging from 0 to 52) indicate more severe depression.

    Time frame: Time Frame: The HAMD-17 was rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Clinical severity by Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S)

    The CGI was developed for use in NIMH-sponsored clinical trials to provide a brief, stand-alone assessment of the clinician's view of the patient's global functioning prior to and after initiating a study medication. The CGI comprises one-item measures evaluating the severity of psychopathology from 1 to 7 and higher scores indicate higher severity.

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  2. Assessments of safety for general adverse events

    General adverse events were evaluated by a standardized the UKU Side Effect Rating Scale. A score of 1, 2 or 3 on any UKU item that first occurred or worsened during treatment indicated adverse events "cases".

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  3. Change of body weights

    Body weights

    Time frame: Time Frame: Body weights were assessed at baseline and week 6(or on early termination).

  4. Change of body mass index (BMI)

    body mass index (BMI)

    Time frame: Time Frame: BMI was assessed at baseline and week 6(or on early termination).

  5. Change of pulse rate

    pulse rate

    Time frame: Time Frame: Pulse rates were checked at baseline and at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 (or on early termination).

  6. Change of blood pressure

    blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic)

    Time frame: Time Frame: Blood pressure were checked at baseline and at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 (or on early termination).

  7. Change of ECG QT Interval

    12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) ECG QT Interval.

    Time frame: Time Frame: ECG were assessed at baseline and week 6 (or on early termination).

  8. change of fasting glucose.

    Laboratory tests including fasting glucose.

    Time frame: Time Frame: laboratory test mentioned above were assessed at baseline and week 6(or on early termination.

  9. change of liver function

    Laboratory tests including alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\] and aspartate aminotransferase \[AST\].

    Time frame: Time Frame: laboratory test mentioned above were assessed at baseline and week 6 (or on early termination).

  10. change of renal function

    Laboratory tests including blood urea nitrogen \[BUN\], creatinine.

    Time frame: Time Frame: laboratory test mentioned above were assessed at baseline and week 6 (or on early termination).

  11. change of lipid profiles.

    Laboratory tests including triglycerides, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein \[HDL\], and low density lipoprotein \[LDL\].

    Time frame: Time Frame: laboratory test mentioned above were assessed at baseline and week 6(or on early termination).

  12. Assessments of quality of life

    The Short-Form-36 (SF-36) is comprised of the physical component summary (PCS) which measures physical health, and the mental component summary (MCS) which measures mental health. PCS includes 4 subscales: 1) physical functioning, 2) role physical limitations, 3) body pain, 4) general health; MCS includes 4 subscales: 1) vitality, 2) social functioning, 3) role emotional limitations, and 4) mental health. SF-36 raw scores were processed according to the user manual to obtain standardized scores for all 8 SF-36 subscales, PCS and MCS. Scores for the SF-36 subscales range from 0 to 100, with a higher score representing better QOL. The PCS and MCS were standardized according to general population means and variances to produce scores with a common mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 (T-scores). Thus, any score \< 50 represents a reduction from "normal" health.

    Time frame: Time Frame: Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 was assessed at baseline and week 6

  13. Assessments of heart rate variability

    Heart rate variability

    Time frame: Time Frame: Heart rate variability was assessed at baseline and week 6

  14. depression and somatic symptoms evaluation

    The Depression and Somatic Symptoms Scale (DSSS) is composed of a 12-item depression subscale (DS) and a ten-item somatic subscale (SS), which includes a five-item pain subscale (PS). Each item is scored from 0 to 3 (absent, mild, moderate, and severe) according to the severity of symptoms, with the total score ranging from 0 to 36 and 0-30 for the DS and the SS, respectively. Higher total score indicates more severe depression and somatic symptoms.

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  15. Gastrointestinal Symptoms evaluation

    Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale-Irritable Bowel Syndrome (GSRS) includes 15 questions on a scale of 1 to 7, depending on how inconvenient it had been during the previous week. A higher score indicates more inconvenient symptoms. Combination scores among 15 questions can assess the following five domains: reflux syndrome (heartburn and acid regurgitation), abdominal pain (stomach ache, gastric hunger pains and nausea), indigestion syndrome (gastric borborygmus, gastric bloating, eructation and increased flatus), diarrhea syndrome (diarrhea, loose stools and urgent need to defecate) and constipation syndrome (constipation, hard stools and feeling of incomplete evacuation).

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  16. Sleep Quality evaluation: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

    The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a 19-item, self-rated questionnaire designed to measure sleep quality and disturbance over the past month in clinical populations. The 19 items are grouped into 7 components, including (1) sleep duration, (2) sleep disturbance, (3) sleep latency, (4) daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness, (5) sleep efficiency, (6) overall sleep quality, and (7) sleep medication use. Each of the sleep components yields a score ranging from 0 to 3, with 3 indicating the greatest dysfunction. The sleep component scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 21 with the higher total score (referred to as global score) indicating worse sleep quality. In distinguishing good and poor sleepers, a global PSQI score \> 5 yields a sensitivity of 89.6% and a specificity of 86.5%.

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  17. Function evaluation

    Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is used to rate severity of illness in psychiatry and covers the range from positive mental health to severe psychopathology. It is an overall (global) measure of how patients are doing Internationally, recording GAF is either done with a single value (this is the most severe of the symptom and functioning values) or both symptom (GAF-S) and functioning (GAF-F) values are recorded. The symptom and functioning scales have both 100 scoring possibilities (1-100). The 100-point scales are divided into 10 intervals, or sections, each with 10 scoring possibilities (examples: 31-40 and 51- 60). Verbal instructions (called anchor points) describe symptoms and functioning relevant for scoring in the 10-point intervals.

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

  18. change of work and social adjustment

    Work and Social Adjustment Scale(WSAS) is a widely used questionnaire by patients' perspectives concerning impaired functioning. The WSAS comprises 5 items (work, home management, social leisure, private leisure, and relationships; see Appendix A), each rated on a scale of 0 to 8, which can also be pooled (total score 0-40; higher scores denote more disability)

    Time frame: The scales were rated at baseline, and again at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (or on early termination).

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital
    Kaohsiung, 886, Taiwan
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 18, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04093960
Lead sponsor
Kaohsiung Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital
Responsible party
Ching-Hua Lin, MD, PhD (Chief of Adult Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 18, 2019
Start date
Nov 18, 2016
Primary completion
Mar 4, 2019
Completion
Sep 1, 2019
Last update
Sep 18, 2019

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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