title: Identifying Chinese herbal medicine for premenstrual syndrome: implications from a nationwide database.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs in women during their reproductive age with a quite negative impact on their daily lives. Women with PMS experience a wide range of physical or psychological symptoms and seek treatment for them. Chinese herb medicine (CHM) is commonly used for PMS and the goal of this study is to investigate the prescription patterns of CHM for PMS by using a nationwide database.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prescriptions of CHM were obtained from two million beneficiaries randomly sampled from the National Health Insurance Research Database, a nationwide database in Taiwan. The ICD-9 code 625.4 was used to identify patients with PMS. Association rule mining and social network analysis were used to explore both the combinations and the core treatments for PMS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 1998-2011, a total of 14,312 CHM prescriptions for PMS were provided. Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San (JWXYS) was the CHM which had the highest prevalence (37.5% of all prescriptions) and also the core of prescription network for PMS. For combination of two CHM, JWXYS with Cyperus rotundus L. was prescribed most frequently, 7.7% of all prescriptions, followed by JWXYS with Leonurus heterophyllus Sweet, 5.9%, and Cyperus rotundus L. with Leonurus heterophyllus Sweet, 5.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  JWXYS-centered CHM combinations were most commonly prescribed for PMS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first pharmaco-epidemiological study to review CHM treatments for PMS. However, the efficacy and safety of these commonly used CHM were still lacking. The results of this study provide valuable references for further clinical trials and bench studies.
authors: Hsing-Yu
authors: HY
authors: Chen
authors: Ben-Shian
authors: BS
authors: Huang
authors: Yi-Hsuan
authors: YH
authors: Lin
authors: Irene H
authors: IH
authors: Su
authors: Sien-Hung
authors: SH
authors: Yang
authors: Jiun-Liang
authors: JL
authors: Chen
authors: Jen-Wu
authors: JW
authors: Huang
authors: School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. yuchn.chen@googlemail.com.
authors: Yu-Chun
authors: YC
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal