title: Prescription pattern of Chinese herbal products for hypertension in Taiwan: a population-based study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been commonly used in Asia country. The aim of this study is to analyze the utilization of TCM among hypertensive patients in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The use of TCM for primary hypertensive patients was evaluated using a randomly sampled cohort of 1,000,0s recruited from the National Health Insurance Research Database in 5-year period from 2006 to 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 49.7% (n=42,586) of primary hypertension utilized TCM and 12.1% (n=5132) of them used TCM for the treatment of hypertension. Among the top 10 most frequently prescribed herbal formulae, Tian-Ma-Gou-Teng-Yin, Gout-Teng-San, Liu-Wei-Di-Huang-Wang and its derivatives were found to be the most common herbal formulae prescribed by TCM doctors for the treatment of hypertension in Taiwan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed the utilization pattern of Chinese herbal product in patients with hypertension. Further researches and clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of these Chinese formulae or its ingredients in treating hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Der-Shiang
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yuan-Shiun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Health Care Administration, College of Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tsai-Chung
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: whpeng@mail.cmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Wen-Huang
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Peng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Baicalin (PubChem CID=64982); Chlorogenic acid (PubChem CID=1794427); Complementary and alternative medicine; Emodin (PubChem CID=3220); Gastrodin (PubChem CID=115067); Geniposide (PubChem CID=107848); Hypertension; Leonurine (PubChem CID=161464); Quercetin (PubChem CID=5280343); Rhynchophylline (PubChem CID=5281408); Traditional Chinese medicine