A traditional herbal formula, Hyangsa-Pyeongwi san (HPS), improves quality of life (QoL) of the patient with functional dyspepsia (FD): randomized double-blinded controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Hyangaa-Pyeongwi san is the most well known description in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating functional gastrointestinal disorders. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a main concern of intimidating quality of life (QoL) in recent days. Although many medicines have been developed to improve FD symptoms as well as QoL, there are no potential drugs and treatments for FD. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of Hyangaa-Pyeongwi san (HPS) on QoL of patients with FD.


METHODS
This study was designed as a randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled, and parallel group trial. Participants received either placebo or HPS (9.68g of HPS at once, three times daily) for 4-weeks, and the efficacy evaluations were performed by assessing the Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) and functional dyspepsia-quality of life (FD-QoL) at 0-, 4- and 8-weeks.


RESULTS
Total of 170 patients participated and were randomly allocated into placebo or HPS groups. Total symptom score of NDI decreased after 4-weeks trial in both groups (p>0.05). HPS significantly improved QoL scores, especially in the area of 'interference and eat/drink' in NDI (p=0.0031) as well as 'liveliness status', 'role-functioning status', and total score in FD-QoL (p=0.026 for liveliness status and p=0.035 for role-functioning status). This significant improvement of FD-QoL had lasted for 4-weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
HPS treatment is markedly effective in improving QoL in patients with FD. Moreover, we observed that this improvement had lasted for 4 weeks after finishing the trial through the follow-up study.
Internal Medicine of Immunology, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea.
Jeung-Bae
JB
Kim
Internal Medicine of Immunology, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea.
Jang-Woo
JW
Shin
Internal Medicine of Immunology, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea.
Ji-Young
JY
Kang
Internal Medicine of Immunology, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea.
Chang-Gue
CG
Son
Department of Business Information Statistics, College of Business Administration, Daejeon University, 62 Daehak-ro, Dong-gu, Daejeon 300-716, South Korea.
Weechang
W
Kang
TKM-Based Herbal Drug Research Group, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, 461-24, Jeonmin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea.
Hye-Won
HW
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, 520-2, Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon, South Korea.
Dong-Soo
DS
Lee
Internal Medicine of Immunology and Lung, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea.
Yang-Chun
YC
Park
Internal Medicine of Immunology, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 22-5 Daehung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-724, South Korea. Electronic address: choajoa@dju.kr.
Jung-Hyo
JH
Cho
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011788:Quality of Life; D055815:Young Adult
D028321:Plant Preparations
Complementary and alternative medicine; Functional dyspepsia; Hyang-Sa-Pyeong-Wi-San; Quality of Life