Quality of life in patients treated with Kampo medicine: a complementary alternative to modern medicine.
OBJECTIVE
Kampo (Japanese traditional herbal medicine) is widely used as a complementary medicine for improving the quality of life (QOL) of patients in Japan. We investigated the efficacy of kampo therapy in improving QOL of patients with various diseases and disorders, using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Scale (WHOQOL-BREF).


METHODS
One hundred and sixty-seven outpatients with various diseases or disorders wishing to receive kampo therapy and who had already been treated with modern medicines were recruited into the study. Patients were offered kampo formulas and modern medicines for 3 months.


METHODS
Scores of WHOQOL-BREF and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Global Improvement scale, and adverse events.


RESULTS
Eleven patients were "very much improved," 46 were "much improved," 59 were "minimally improved," 42 showed "no change," 7 were "minimally worse," and one was "much worse" in the CGI Global Improvement scale. The mean WHOQOL-BREF score improved significantly from 3.05 +/- 0.54 at baseline to 3.14 +/- 0.53 after 3 months (p = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients presenting with various diseases and disorders were successfully treated with kampo therapy. Our results suggest that kampo therapy as a complementary medicine may improve the QOL of patients with various diseases and disorders.
Yamada
Kazuo
K
Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Medical Center East, Tokyo, Japan. yamadaps@dnh.twmu.ac.jp
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D020835:Medicine, Kampo; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014944:World Health Organization