Use of traditional Chinese medicine reduces exposure to corticosteroid among atopic dermatitis children: A 1-year follow-up cohort study

作者 Chen, Hsing-Yu; Lin, Yi-Hsuan; Wu, Jau-Ching; Hu, Sindy; Yang, Sien-hung; Chen, Jiun-Liang; Chen, Yu-Chun; Lo, Su-Shun

期刊 JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY , JAN 15 2015,:159

DOI 10.1016/j.jep.2014.11.018 PubMed 25449448

摘要 Ethnopharmacological relevance: Atopic dermatitis is a prevalent dermatologic disease in children. Corticosteroid is an important treatment but side effects caused by long-term and excessive use heavily concern patients. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is potentially an alternative treatment and might cause less adverse effects. This nationwide retrospective cohort study aimed to examine the hypothesis that TCM use is associated with lower exposure to corticosteroid.Materials and methods: Children under 12 years of age with ICD-9 codes 691.8 and 692.x were identified as atopic dermatitis patients from 2007/1/1 to 2007/12/31. Corticosteroid use was compared between TCM users and non-users for one-year follow-up by using a general estimation equation model with propensity-score matching.Results: A total of 9012 TCM users were identified and the use of corticosteroid after treatment was compared with matched TCM non-users. Use of TCM significantly reduced exposure to corticosteroids after 1-year follow-up. Among TCM users, the exposure to any corticosteroids was lower (42.1% reduction in TCM users versus 34.5% increase in TCM non-users, relative risk: 0.36; p-Value <0.001). the duration was shorter (relative risk for using corticosteroid more than 14 days: 0.37; p-Value <0.001), and the rate of frequent visits with steroid prescription was also lower. CHM was the most commonly used TCM modality (98.5% of all visits) and Xiao-Feng-San was the most commonly used CHM (33% of all prescriptions) with extensive coverage for pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis.Conclusions: Lower use rate of corticosteroid can be found after TCM treatment, which can be considered as an integrative therapy for atopic dermatitis. Further studies are warranted on the basis of this study. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.