title: Treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease with traditional chinese herbal medicine: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot clinical study.
abstract: The objective of this clinical study is to examine the effects of a Chinese herbal medicine formula (Jia Wei Liu Jun Zi Tang: JWLJZT) on motor and non-motor symptoms, and on complications of conventional therapy in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), using an add-on design. Fifty-five patients with PD were randomly allocated to receive either Chinese herbal medicine or placebo for 24 weeks. Primary outcome measure was the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Secondary outcome measures included the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), home diaries, and a range of category rating scales. JWLJZT resulted in a significant improvement in the UPDRS IVC when compared with placebo at 12 weeks (P = .039) and 24 weeks (P = .034). In addition, patients in the Chinese herbal medicine group also showed significant improvement in PDQ-39 communication scores at 12 weeks (P = .024) and 24 weeks (P = .047) when compared with the placebo group. There were no significant differences between treatment and control groups for SF-36 variables, GDS score or the mean daily "on-off" time. One case of mild diarrhea was noted in the treatment group. The findings suggest that JWLJZT can relieve some non-motor complications of conventional therapy and improve the communication ability in patients with PD. The results of this pilot study warrant larger multi-center clinical studies to assess long-term efficacy and tolerability of JWLJZT, and to elucidate the mechanisms by which it affects PD function.
authors.affiliation: School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wan Fung
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Kum
authors.forename: Siva Sundara Kumar
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Durairajan
authors.forename: Zhao Xiang
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Sui Cheung
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Man
authors.forename: Yuen Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Li Xia
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jia Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xian Zhang
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
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