title: Prescription frequency and patterns of Chinese herbal medicine for liver cancer patients in Taiwan: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health Insurance Research Database.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is frequently provided to HCC patients. The aim of this study was to understand the prescription frequency and patterns of CHM for HCC patients by analyzing the claims data from the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 73918 newly diagnosed HCC subjects from the database of Registry for Catastrophic Illness during 2002 to 2009 and to analyze the frequency and pattern of corresponding CHM prescriptions for HCC patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were a total of 685,079 single Chinese herbal prescriptions and 553,952 Chinese herbal formula prescriptions used for 17,373 HCC subjects before 2 years of HCC diagnosis. Among the 13,093 HCC subjects who used CHMs after HCC diagnosis, there were 462,786 single Chinese herbal prescriptions and 300,153 Chinese herbal formula prescriptions were counted. By adjusting with person-year and ratio of standardized incidence rate, the top ten prescribed single herbal drugs and Chinese herbal formulas for HCC patients were described in our study. Among them, we concluded that, Oldenlandia diffusa (Chinese herbal name: Bai-Hua-She-She-Cao), Radix et Rhizoma Rhei (Da Huang) and the herbal preparation of Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang and Gan-Lu-Yin, were the most obviously increased and important CHMs been used for HCC patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We established an accurate and validated method for the actual frequency and patterns of CHM use in treating HCC in Taiwan. We propose that these breakthrough findings may have important implications for HCC therapy, clinical trials and modernization of CHM.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, 155, Li-Nong Street, Section 2, Taipei, 112, Taiwan.|Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Ren-Ai Branch, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Tsung
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Ting
authors.affiliation: Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University and Psychiatric Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chian-Jue
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Chemical Engineering, National United University, Miaoli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Yun
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. phs2321@gmail.com.|Department of Dentistry, Heping Fuyou Branch, Taipei City Hospital, No. 33 Zhonghua Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei, 100, Taiwan. phs2321@gmail.com.|Department of Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. phs2321@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ya-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, 155, Li-Nong Street, Section 2, Taipei, 112, Taiwan. thtsai@ym.edu.tw.|Department of Chemical Engineering, National United University, Miaoli, Taiwan. thtsai@ym.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Tung-Hu
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Chinese herbal formula; Chinese herbal medicine; Hepatocellular carcinoma; National health insurance; Single herbal drug