Symptom combinations assessed in traditional Chinese medicine and its predictive role in ACR20 efficacy response in rheumatoid arthritis.
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.
He
Yiting
Y
Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
Lu
Aiping
A
Lu
Cheng
C
Zha
Yinglin
Y
Yan
Xiaoping
X
Song
Yuejin
Y
Zeng
Shengping
S
Liu
Wei
W
Zhu
Wanhua
W
Su
Li
L
Feng
Xinghua
X
Qian
Xian
X
Tsang
Ian
I
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
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C525740:yishen