[Prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia with Yupingfeng Powder in patients with acute cerebral vascular diseases: a randomized controlled trial].
BACKGROUND
An increase in the incidence rate of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) has a direct influence on prognosis and survival of patients with acute cerebral vascular diseases (ACVD), and how to prevent HAP is a growing concern to clinicians.


OBJECTIVE
To study the efficacy of Yupingfeng Powder, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, in preventing HAP in patients with ACVD.


METHODS
Sixty ACVD patients with lung qi deficiency syndrome without concurrent infections were randomly divided into prevention group (28 cases) and control group (32 cases). The 60 cases were all from Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. Tough measures were taken to prevent cross-infection based on treatment of the primary diseases, well nutrition and support therapy. Yupingfeng Powder was used in the prevention group to prevent HAP. The patients were treated for 10 days.


METHODS
The clinical symptoms, physical signs, body temperature, and chest X-ray were observed. The changes of blood immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected before and after treatment.


RESULTS
The total response rate in the prevention group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the total response rates were 78.57% (22/28) and 31.25% (10/32) respectively. The incidence rate of HAP in the prevention group was lower than that in the control group. There were no significant differences in white blood cell count, neutrophilic granulocyte count, and the levels of IgA, IgG, IgM and IL-6 between the two groups before treatment. The white blood cell count and neutrophilic granulocyte count in the control group increased after treatment, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in IgA level in the two groups after treatment, and the IgM levels in the two groups were higher than those before treatment (P<0.05), however there was no significant difference in IgM level between the two groups. In the prevention group, there were significant differences in values of IgG and IL-6 between before and after treatment (P<0.01), and after treatment there were differences in values of IgG and IL-6 between the two groups (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Yupingfeng Powder has a good clinical effect in prevention of HAP in patients with ACVD, and it can improve the immunological function and relieve the lung qi deficiency symptoms. So the prevention effect of Yupingfeng Powder on HAP is worth being further investigated.
Yan
Li
L
Department of Emergency, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China. yanli1137@163.com
Chen
Xian-chuan
XC
Guo
Jian
J
Qi
Li-li
LL
Qian
Yi-ming
YM
Zhou
Xiong-gen
XG
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C532967:yupingfeng