[Clinical observation on treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis with Chinese herbal medicine].
OBJECTIVE
To study the efficacy and safety of Chinese drugs for expelling evil-wind, removing dampness, promoting blood circulation and invigorating yin in treating active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).


METHODS
Sixty-seven patients with active RA were randomized into 3 groups, the Group A, B and C. They were made coequal in terms of age, sex and condition of disease and treated respectively with basic treatment (non-steroid anti-inflammation drug combined with immune inhibitor) only, basic treatment + small dose prednisone, and basic treatment + Chinese herbal medicine, all for 8 weeks. The efficacy and adverse effects of treatment were analyzed by scoring.


RESULTS
The total effective rate was 20.0% (4/20) in Group A, 810% (17/21) in Group B and 85.7% (18/21) in Group C, the latter two were superior to the former one (P <0.01). Before treatment, comparison of disease activity score (DAS) among the three groups showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). After treatment, improvements of Ritchie arthritis index (RAI), number of swollen joint, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), general health (GH), and DAS were shown in Group B and C (P <0.05), while in Group A, improvement was only shown in GH (P <0.05). The difference of DAS between pre- and post-treatment was 0.25 +/- 0.77 in Group A, 0.87 +/- 0.60 in Group B and 0.92 +/- 0.59 in Group C, showing statistical significance between Group A vs B and A vs C (P = 0.0000). The total accumulative score of adverse reaction was 3.76 +/- 2.72 in Group C, 9.10 +/- 6.01 in Group A and 14.38 +/- 9.36 in Group B, also showing statistical significance among groups (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of Chinese and Western medicine for active RA is effective and safe.
Sheng
Zheng-He
ZH
Department of TCM, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi. szh0222@yahoo.com.cn
Liu
Yi-Bin
YB
Huang
Yan-Xia
YX
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal