title: Symptom combinations assessed in traditional Chinese medicine and its predictive role in ACR20 efficacy response in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: The predictive roles of symptom combination traditionally evaluated in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were explored. Three hundred and ninety six patients were randomly divided into 197 subjects receiving Western medicine therapy (WM) and 199 subjects receiving TCM therapy (TCM). A complete physical examination and 18 clinical manifestations typically assessed in TCM were recorded before the randomization. The ACR responses were used for efficacy evaluation. ACR20 and 50 responses with WM treatment were higher than in the TCM group. The 18 symptoms in RA could be clustered into 4 symptom combinations with factor analysis, which represent joint symptoms, cold pattern, deficiency pattern and hot pattern in TCM respectively. TCM would be more effective in patients with weak-symptom combination 3 (deficiency pattern in TCM), and WM would be more effective in patients with symptom combination 2 (cold pattern in TCM). Symptom combinations judged with TCM may have influence on the efficacy of therapy in the treatment of RA.
authors: Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Yiting
authors: Y
authors: He
authors: Aiping
authors: A
authors: Lu
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Lu
authors: Yinglin
authors: Y
authors: Zha
authors: Xiaoping
authors: X
authors: Yan
authors: Yuejin
authors: Y
authors: Song
authors: Shengping
authors: S
authors: Zeng
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Liu
authors: Wanhua
authors: W
authors: Zhu
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Su
authors: Xinghua
authors: X
authors: Feng
authors: Xian
authors: X
authors: Qian
authors: Ian
authors: I
authors: Tsang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000592:standards; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D029757:Tripterygium
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C525740:yishen