title: Management of respiratory disorders in a Chinese medicine teaching clinic in Australia: review of clinical records.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People seek Chinese medicine (CM) treatments for a variety of respiratory disorders, e.g., asthma and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). No previous studies have reviewed the data available in medical records from Australian clinics. This study aims to identify the characteristics of patients with respiratory disorders who visited a CM teaching clinic at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary data from January 2010 to December 2011 were collected from patient records in a CM teaching clinic at RMIT University. Patient data, including demographics, primary complaint, clinical history, lifestyle, CM treatment, and adverse events, were analyzed with descriptive statistics and the Chi square test using SPSS version 21.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 1677 clinical records we identified 261 patients with respiratory disorders. The patients made a total of 842 visits (mean: 3.2 visits/patient; range: 1-34 visits) during the study period. The mean age of the patients was 38.5 ± 17.9 years, and the majority were female (65.5 %). The most common respiratory disorders were URTI (27.8 %), cough (20.8 %), hay fever or allergic rhinitis (18.6 %), sinus congestion (11.2 %), and asthma (7.6 %). Acupuncture was given at almost all visits (97.5 %) and was frequently combined with herbs (64.0 %). Fifteen adverse events were reported, but none were considered severe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the CM teaching clinic, respiratory conditions were a common presenting complaint of patients, and were safely treated with a combination of acupuncture and herbs.
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Wan Najbah
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Nik Nabil
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Johannah Linda
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Shergis
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Suzi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mansu
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Charlie Changli
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony Lin
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zhang