Published Database Resources for Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine: Update of a Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Pharmacology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) is increasingly integrated into academic and public health strategies.
• Online databases are crucial for accessing evidence-based TCIM information.
• This study updates a 2010 systematic review of TCIM databases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze databases related to TCIM published between 2010 and November 2024.
• To provide an updated overview of the TCIM database landscape.

Main Methods:

• Searched CINAHL, CAMbase, Web of Science, MEDLINE/PubMed, and Google Scholar for TCIM databases.
• Reviewed 127 articles, identifying 37 new databases and including 16 previously identified ones.
• Extracted data on origin, content, and scope of each database.

Main Results:

• Identified 37 new TCIM databases, totaling 53 with previously available ones.
• The majority of databases focus on herbal therapies (15) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (11).
• New databases offer extensive resources on medicinal plants, including phytochemical and molecular data.

Conclusions:

• The TCIM database landscape has evolved significantly over the past 15 years.
• There is a notable increase in databases dedicated to medicinal plants and herbal therapies.
• Advances in plant genomics and molecular biology likely drive the rise of specialized herbal databases.