To observe the effects of a Chinese compound herbal medicine for reinforcing qi, activating blood circulation, expelling phlegm and dredging collaterals in treatment of lower limb arteriosclerosis.

An increase in the incidence rate of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) has a direct influence on prognosis and survival of patients with acute cerebral vascular diseases (ACVD), and how to prevent HAP is a growing concern to clinicians.

Objective:To assess the effects of direct moxibustion on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and clinical symptoms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in elderly patients with essential hypertension, and to explore the antihypertensive effect and influencing factors of moxibustion. Methods:A total of 101 elderly hypertension patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to a direct moxibustion I group (n=33), a direct moxibustion II group (n=34), and a control group (n=34). The treatment of calcium antagonist (CCB) orangiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARB) was adopted in the control group. The treatment of direct moxibustion I plus the same medicine as the control group were adopted in the direct moxibustion I group, five cones per acupoint and three times per week, for 5 weeks in total. The treatment of direct moxibustion II plus the same medicine as the control groupwere adopted in the direct moxibustion II group, five cones per acupoint and three times per week, for 5 weeks in total. The changes of 24-hour ABP and clinical symptoms of TCM after treatment were compared in the three groups. Results: The mean 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (mean 24 h ASBP), night ASBP, percentage of mean 24-hour ambulatory diastolic blood pressure (mean 24 h ADBP)>90 mmHg, and percentage of day ADBP>90 mmHg in the control group were elevated after treatment (P<0.05). The percentage of night ADBP>80 mmHg in the direct moxibustion I group was reduced by treatment (P<0.01). There were no significant differences in the other outcome measures of 24 h ABP, such as day ASBP, percentage of mean 24 h ASBP>140 mmHg, percentage of day ASBP>140 mmHg, percentage of night ASBP>120 mmHg , mean 24 h ADBP, day ADBP, night ADBP, 24 h ambulatory pulse pressure (APP), after treatment in all groups (P>0.05). The degree of improvement of the clinical symptoms of TCM showed significant differences among the three groups of patients (P<0.01). The total effective rate in the direct moxibustion I group was 73.3%, which was superior to those in the direct moxibustion II group and control group (13.3% and 10.0%, respectively). Conclusion:The direct moxibustion has benign regulative effect on blood pressure of elderly patients with essential hypertension, and improves their clinical symptoms. The direct moxibustion method I (burning the next moxa cone after the previous one had totally burnt out) was superior to method II (burning the next moxa cone when the previous one had not totally burnt out ) in lowering blood pressure and improving symptoms of elderly patients with essential hypertension.