title: Chinese herbal medicine Xinfeng Capsule in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: study protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as a common systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease, affects approximately 1 in 100 individuals. Effective treatment for RA is not yet available because current research does not have a clear understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of RA. Xinfeng Capsule, a patent Chinese herbal medicine, has been used in the treatment of RA in recent years. Despite its reported clinical efficacy, there are no large-sample, multicenter, randomized trials that support the use of Xinfeng Capsule for RA. Therefore, we designed a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of Xinfeng Capsule in the treatment of RA.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter trial on the treatment of RA. The participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group at a ratio of 1:1. Participants in the experimental group will receive Xinfeng Capsule and a pharmaceutical placebo (imitation leflunomide). The control group will receive leflunomide and an herbal placebo (imitation Xinfeng Capsule). The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Criteria for RA will be used to measure the efficacy of the Xinfeng Capsule. The primary outcome measure will be the percentage of study participants who achieve an ACR 20% response rate (ACR20), which will be measured every 4 weeks after randomization. Secondary outcomes will include the ACR50 and ACR70 responses, the side effects of the medications, the Disease Activity Score 28, RA biomarkers, quality of life, and X-rays of the hands and wrists. The first four of the secondary outcomes will be measured every 4 weeks and the others will be measured at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The result of this trial will help to evaluate whether Xinfeng Capsule is effective and safe in the treatment of RA.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  This trial has been registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. The identifier is NCT01774877.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China; E-mail: liujianahzy@126.com.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuan-bing
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gui-qin
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yuan-yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Yun-xia
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ya-jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Qi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002214:Capsules; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011786:Quality Control; D018401:Sample Size
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C533622:xinfeng