Yueh-Hsiang Liao1,2, Chia-Ing Li3,4, Cheng-Chieh Lin4,5, Jaung-Geng Lin2, Jen-Huai Chiang6,7, Tsai-Chung Li8,9. 1. School of Chinese Medicine for Post-Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 2. School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. 3. Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. 4. School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. 5. Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. 6. Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan. 7. Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. 8. Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan. tcli@mail.cmu.edu.tw. 9. Department of Healthcare Administration, College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan. tcli@mail.cmu.edu.tw.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the popular alternative treatments for cancer, mainly enhancing host immune response and reducing adverse effect of chemotherapy. This study first explored traditional Chinese medicine treatment effect on long-term survival of lung cancer patients. METHODS: This study evaluated whether traditional Chinese medicine combined with conventional cancer treatment improved overall survival of lung cancer patients. We had conducted a retrospective cohort study on 111,564 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients in 2000-2009 from National Health Insurance Program database. RESULTS: A total of 23,803 (21.31%) patients used traditional Chinese medicine for lung cancer care. Eligible participants were followed up until 2011 with a mean follow-up period of 1.96 years (standard deviation 2.55) for non-TCM users and 3.04 years (2.85) for traditional Chinese medicine users. Patients with traditional Chinese medicine utilization were significantly more likely to have a 32% decreased risk of death [hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = 0.61-0.63], compared with patients without traditional Chinese medicine utilization after multivariate adjustment. We also observed a similar significant reduction risk across various subgroups of chronic lung diseases. Qing Zao Jiu Fei Tang was the most effective traditional Chinese medicine agent for mortality reduction both in the entire lung cancer (0.81; 0.72-0.91) and matched populations (0.86; 0.78-0.95). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated adjunctive therapy with traditional Chinese medicine may improve overall survival of lung cancer patients. This study also suggested traditional Chinese medicine may be used as an adjunctive therapy for cancer treatment. These observational findings need being validated by future randomized controlled trials to rule out the possibility of effect due to holistic care.
PURPOSE: Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the popular alternative treatments for cancer, mainly enhancing host immune response and reducing adverse effect of chemotherapy. This study first explored traditional Chinese medicine treatment effect on long-term survival of lung cancerpatients. METHODS: This study evaluated whether traditional Chinese medicine combined with conventional cancer treatment improved overall survival of lung cancerpatients. We had conducted a retrospective cohort study on 111,564 newly diagnosed lung cancerpatients in 2000-2009 from National Health Insurance Program database. RESULTS: A total of 23,803 (21.31%) patients used traditional Chinese medicine for lung cancer care. Eligible participants were followed up until 2011 with a mean follow-up period of 1.96 years (standard deviation 2.55) for non-TCM users and 3.04 years (2.85) for traditional Chinese medicine users. Patients with traditional Chinese medicine utilization were significantly more likely to have a 32% decreased risk of death [hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = 0.61-0.63], compared with patients without traditional Chinese medicine utilization after multivariate adjustment. We also observed a similar significant reduction risk across various subgroups of chronic lung diseases. Qing Zao Jiu Fei Tang was the most effective traditional Chinese medicine agent for mortality reduction both in the entire lung cancer (0.81; 0.72-0.91) and matched populations (0.86; 0.78-0.95). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated adjunctive therapy with traditional Chinese medicine may improve overall survival of lung cancerpatients. This study also suggested traditional Chinese medicine may be used as an adjunctive therapy for cancer treatment. These observational findings need being validated by future randomized controlled trials to rule out the possibility of effect due to holistic care.
Entities:
Keywords:
Cohort study; Hazard ratio; Lung cancer; Survival; Traditional Chinese medicine
Authors: Sisi Chen; Andrew Flower; Andrew Ritchie; Jianping Liu; Alex Molassiotis; He Yu; George Lewith Journal: Lung Cancer Date: 2009-12-16 Impact factor: 5.705
Authors: Shi Guang Li; Hai Yong Chen; Chen Sheng Ou-Yang; Xi-Xin Wang; Zhen-Jiang Yang; Yao Tong; William C S Cho Journal: PLoS One Date: 2013-02-28 Impact factor: 3.240