Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of combination of entecavir and herbal medicine on negative emotion in patients with chronic hepatitis B （CHB） and depression.Methods 183 CHB patients with depression were admitted to our hospital between June 2014 and October 2016. The patients were randomly divided into observation （n=92） and control （n=91） groups,and received combination of entecavir and herbal medicine and entecavir alone,respectively for eight weeks. The positive/negative emotion scale （PANAS,NA） and Hamilton depression scale（HAMD） were used to evaluate the negative emotion,TCM syndrome was evaluated by using Likert’s five-point scoring method and the quality of life was evaluated by SF-36 health questionnaire.Results At the end of 8 week observation,serum amimotransferase levels in the combination group were significantly lower than in the control （P<0.05）;the NA score was （10.3±2.5） and the HAMD score was （8.1±1.4）,both significantly lower than （13.2±3.1） and （10.6±1.7） in the control （P<0.05）;the spiritual depression,facial yellow,abdominal distension and watery feces scores were （2.9±0.8）,（3.4±0.9）,（2.7±0.8） and （2.8±0.8）,much lower than （3.4±0.5）,（3.9±0.6）,（3.5±0.6） and （3.6±0.7）,respectively,in the control （P<0.05）;the social activity,physical function,physical pain,spiritual health,total health,physical manifestation,energy and emotional function scores out of quality of life were（56.3±11.4）,（57.4±12.5）,（52.6±12.3）,（56.8±13.1）,（59.1±9.5）,（55.5±13.6）,（55.4±13.1） and （58.6±13.2）,all significantly higher than （51.5±12.3）,（53.6±12.8）,（60.9±11.7）,（50.4±13.9）,（52.8±10.4）,（51.5±13.2）,（53.7±13.3） and （53.5±13.8）,respectively,in the control （P<0.05）. Conclusions Our observation suggest that at the basis of routine antiviral treatment,the combination of Chinese herbal medicine might effectively eliminate the negative emotion in patients with CHB and depression,it could also obviouly improve the liver function tests,reduce the TCM syndrome scores with little adverse reactions,which needs long-term and multi-central investigation.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Depression, Negative emotion, Entecavir, Herbal medicine, Therapy