title: [Management of chronic kidney disease guided by the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine: an experimental study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the impact of Traditional Chinese Medicine on patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 225 CKD patients in an outpatient department were recruited for this study, among whom 170 received regular Western and Chinese medicine treatments (control group) and 55 received treatments guided by the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (experimental group). The effectiveness of the treatments was determined through a pre-post comparison.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant pre-intervention differences in age (P < 0.01), stage of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (P = 0.007) and urine protein (P < 0.01) were found between the two groups of patients. But age, gender and proteinuria were not significant predictors on clinical outcomes of the patients in the multivariate regression models. The experimental group had a greater level of decrease in blood urea nitrogen (P < 0.01) and serum creatine (P < 0. 01) than the control group. No significant differences between the groups were found in changes of uric acid (P = 0.475), urine protein (P = 0.058), urine red cells (P = 0.577), and urine white cells (P = 0.01). A greater level of increase in estimated glomerular filtration rate was found in the experimental group compared with the control (P < 0.001). The multivariate linear regression analysis identified group (B = 0.395, P < 0.001) and stage of GFR (B = 0.165, P = 0.008) as significant predictors on the outcomes of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment of CKD patients guided by the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine can improve renal function through influencing glomerular filtration rate. The effect is more prominent than the regular treatment regime.
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Ji
authors: J
authors: Wen
authors: Department of Nephrology, Nanchong Central Hospital, Nanchong 637000, China.
authors: Xi-Sheng
authors: XS
authors: Xie
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Ming-Hua
authors: MH
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Nan
authors: N
authors: Mao
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Cheng-Long
authors: CL
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Lin-Shen
authors: LS
authors: Xie
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Yuan
authors: Y
authors: Cheng
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Zi-Yuan
authors: ZY
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors: Jun-Ming
authors: JM
authors: Fan
mesh_terms: D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D011507:Proteinuria; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*