Efficacy and safety of chinese herbal foot bath for hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a prevalent condition with significant impacts on human health. Chinese herbal foot bath, a traditional Chinese medicine treatment, is believed to help manage hypertension. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to assess the efficacy of combining Chinese herbal foot bath with conventional treatment for hypertension. METHODS: A thorough search across eight databases was conducted to identify relevant studies on Chinese herbal foot bath for hypertension. Randomized controlled trials examining the benefits and risks of using Chinese herbal foot bath combined with conventional treatment for hypertension were included. Blood pressure changes before and after the Chinese herbal foot bath were assessed, and outcomes were analyzed using Review Manager 5.3 software. The certainty of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE tool. RESULTS: Compared to conventional treatment, Chinese herbal foot bath combined with conventional treatment demonstrated greater effectiveness in reducing systolic blood pressure (MD 6.69, 95% CI: 5.86 to 7.53, p < 0.00001) and diastolic blood pressure (MD 5.83, 95% CI: 5.23 to 6.43, p < 0.00001), which reported fewer adverse effects.These studies commonly present issues such as inadequate randomization, lack of blinding, and absence of independent testing for the purity or potency of herbs. CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis suggests that Chinese herbal foot bath combined with conventional treatment may effectively manage hypertension, with few adverse effects. However, high-quality clinical trials are still needed to confirm these findings due to methodological weaknesses in randomization, blinding, long-term follow-up, and independent testing for the purity and potency of herbs.

Electroacupuncture treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia: A case report.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by symptoms such as frequent urination and difficulty in urination. Currently, treatment is mainly carried out using medications and surgery, but all of these methods can lead to certain adverse effects. In this case, a ninety-year-old male elderly patient came to our acupuncture clinic for treatment of urinary tract occlusion due to BPH. According to the patient's condition, we adopted the eletroacupuncture treatment protocol of Prof. Zhanglian Wang, a famous experienced Chinese medicine doctor. After six weeks of acupuncture treatment, the patient's urinary status improved significantly. This case suggests that acupuncture may be an effective complementary alternative therapy for BPH.

Efficacy and safety of Danlou tablets in traditional Chinese medicine for coronary heart disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Danlou tablets exert auxiliary advantages in treating coronary heart disease (CHD), but a summary of evidence-based proof is lacking. This study aims to systematically evaluate Danlou tablets in treating CHD from two aspects, including efficacy and safety. Methods: By a thorough retrieval of the four English databases, namely, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science, and the four Chinese databases, namely, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP database, and China Biomedical Literature Service System, we found all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to Danlou tablets in treating CHD. The retrieval time was from the construction of the database to April 2022. We engaged two researchers to screen the studies, extract the required data, and assess the risk of bias. We then used RevMan5.3 and STATA.14 software to conduct a meta-analysis. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to evaluate the quality of outcome indicators. Results: Seventeen RCTs involving 1,588 patients were included. The meta-analysis results are displayed as follows: clinical treatment effect [risk ratio (RR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.16, 1.28, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris duration [MD = -0.2.15, 95% CI: -2.91, -1.04, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris frequency [standard mean difference (SMD) = -2.48, 95% CI: -3.42, -1.54, P < 0.00001], angina pectoris degree [SMD = -0.96, 95% CI: -1.39, -0.53, P < 0.0001], TC [MD = -0.71, 95% CI: -0.92, -0.51, P < 0.00001], TG [MD = -0.38, 95% CI: -0.53, -0.22, P < 0.00001], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [MD = -0.64, 95% CI: -0.76, -0.51, P < 0.00001], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [MD = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.21, P < 0.00001], and adverse events [RR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.88, P = 0.02]. Conclusion: The current evidence suggests that the combination of Danlou tablets and Western medicine can enhance the efficacy of CHD and does not increase adverse events. However, because of the limited number and quality of the included studies, the results of our study should be treated with caution. Further large-scale RCTs are necessary to verify the benefits of this approach.

Quality of Life Outcomes With Creative Arts Therapy in Children With Cancer.

Introduction: Children with cancer experience distress and decreased quality of life (QOL). Creative arts therapy (CAT) is a therapeutic modality which may improve QOL. This study examined the relationship between CAT and QOL in children and adolescents with cancer. Secondary aims explored relationships between CAT and emotional reactions, resilience, and posture (to investigate future potential as an objective biomarker of QOL). Methods: Children aged 3-18 years undergoing cancer treatments and a parent proxy completed the PedsQL3.0 Cancer Module, Faces Scale for emotional reactions, Resilience Scale in adolescents (>12 years), and an inclinometer to measure thoracic kyphosis before and after CAT. CAT exposure (number of sessions) was recorded. Results: Ninety-eight children with cancer (mean age 7.8 years, range 3-17) and parent proxy were enrolled. Of the 83 participants included in the final analysis, 18 received no CAT, 32 received low dose, and 33 received high dose CAT. A significant improvement in QOL was seen with high dose CAT in (slope change, p = .015), but the overall time by group interaction was not significant. Slope change response patterns suggested that CAT led to improved posture as compared to no CAT (time by group interaction, p = .044). Discussion: CAT may be an effective intervention to improve QOL in this population. Because initial evidence suggests that posture also improves with CAT, further investigation of posture as a potential objective biomarker of QOL is supported. Further study with a randomized controlled trial is warranted.

Israeli nurses' attitudes to the holistic approach to health and their use of complementary and alternative therapies.

PURPOSE: To examine nurses' attitudes to holistic and biomedical approaches to health care and the correlation between the two and to explore the extent of recommending and using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by nurses and its correlation with attitudes toward the holistic approach to care. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional correlational study, a structured questionnaire was completed anonymously by 213 Israeli hospital-based nurses from various departments. FINDINGS: Nurses perceived both approaches as critical to optimal health care: a positive correlation emerged of attitudes to the two approaches. Nurses recommended and used CAM extensively; most therapies were recommended and/or used by 70% or more of the respondents. Nurses with more positive attitudes toward holistic care tended to recommend and use CAM to a greater extent. CONCLUSIONS: Biomedical and holistic approaches are perceived by nurses to coexist within nursing professional boundaries and form a broad basis for optimal health care. Nurses' attitudes to the holistic approach appear to promote recommendation and/or use of CAM in practice. More training in CAM should be offered in nursing educational frameworks and research should continue to establish evidence for CAM's effectiveness.

Complementary and alternative drug therapy versus science-oriented medicine.

This opinion deals critically with the so-called complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapy on the basis of current data. From the authors' perspective, CAM prescriptions and most notably the extensive current endeavours to the "integration" of CAM into conventional patient care is problematic in several respects. Thus, several CAM measures are used, although no specific effects of medicines can be proved in clinical studies. It is extensively explained that the methods used in this regard are those of evidence-based medicine, which is one of the indispensable pillars of science-oriented medicine. This standard of proof of efficacy is fundamentally independent of the requirement of being able to explain efficacy of a therapy in a manner compatible with the insights of the natural sciences, which is also essential for medical progress. Numerous CAM treatments can however never conceivably satisfy this requirement; rather they are justified with pre-scientific or unscientific paradigms. The high attractiveness of CAM measures evidenced in patients and many doctors is based on a combination of positive expectations and experiences, among other things, which are at times unjustified, at times thoroughly justified, from a science-oriented view, but which are non-specific (context effects). With a view to the latter phenomenon, the authors consider the conscious use of CAM as unrevealed therapeutic placebos to be problematic. In addition, they advocate that academic medicine should again systematically endeavour to pay more attention to medical empathy and use context effects in the service of patients to the utmost. The subsequent opinion discusses the following after an introduction to medical history: the definition of CAM; the efficacy of most common CAM procedures; CAM utilisation and costs in Germany; characteristics of science-oriented medicine; awareness of placebo research; pro and contra arguments about the use of CAM, not least of all in terms of aspects related to medical ethics.

Prevalence of complementary and alternative therapy use by cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.

AIM: The use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) in oncology patients is increasing in incidence, with calls to routinely screen for their use. We introduced a screening tool as part of clinical care to identify CAT use. METHODS: We evaluated all patients who attended the radiation oncology outpatient clinic between December 2011 and July 2012, who had filled out the CAT screening tool, and evaluated types of CAT use, reasons for use and predictors of CAT usage. RESULTS: A total of 639 patients completed the CAT screening tool, which was 75% of eligible patients. There were 464 (72.6%) men and 175 (27.4%) women, with a mean age of 69.9 years (range 27-94 years). Prostate cancer was the predominant diagnosis (53.1%), followed by breast cancer (17.5%) and skin cancer (14.7%). Of these, 530 patients (82.9%) had used at least one therapy. Of the 530 patients using CAT, the most quoted reasons for use were to improve quality of life (42.6%), to boost the immune system and general health (33.6%), to increase energy levels (32.6%) and to live longer (28.9%). Of the 530 users, only 112 patients (21.1%) took CAT to help cure their cancer. Women were significantly more likely to use CAT, as were patients with breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The use of CAT in patients with cancer is prevalent and more frequent in our population than in other published studies. Few patients use CAT to improve their cancer cure, but rather use CAT for other reasons.