Effects of comprehensive therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine patterns on older patients with chronic...

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of comprehensive therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) patterns on older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through a fourcenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial. Patients were divided into the trial group treated using conventional western medicine and Bu-Fei Jian-Pi granules, Bu-Fei Yi-Shen granules, and Yi-Qi Zi-Shen granules based on TCM patterns respectively; and the control group treated using conventional western medicine. A total of 136 patients ≥ 65 years completed the study, with 63 patients comprising the trial group and 73 comprising the control group. After the six-month treatment and the 12-month follow-up period, significant differences were observed between the trial and control groups in the following aspects: frequency of acute exacerbation (P ≤ 0.040), duration of acute exacerbation (P = 0.034), symptoms (P ≤ 0.034), 6-min walking distance (6MWD) (P ≤ 0.039), dyspnea scale (P ≤ 0.036); physical domain (P ≤ 0.019), psychological domain (P ≤ 0.033), social domain (P ≤ 0.020), and environmental domain (P ≤ 0.044) of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire; and daily living ability domain (P ≤ 0.007), social activity domain (P ≤ 0.018), depression symptoms domain (P ≤ 0.025), and anxiety symptoms domain (P ≤ 0.037) of the COPD-QOL. No differences were observed between the trial and control groups with regard to FVC, FEV1, and FEV1%.