OBJECTIVE: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) incorporates traditional diagnostic methods and several major treatment modalities including Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese patent medicine, and non-pharmacological methods such as acupuncture and tuina. Even though TCM is used daily by more than 70,000 healthcare facilities and over 700,000 clinical practitioners in China, there is a poor understanding of the extent to which TCM diagnostic methods are used, how different treatment modalities are deployed in general, and what major factors may affect the integration of TCM and Western medicine. This study aimed to fill this void in the literature. METHODS: In the 2021 National Healthcare Improvement Evaluation Survey, we included three questions gauging the perception and practices of TCM amongst physicians working in TCM-related facilities, investigating the frequency of their deployment of TCM diagnostic methods, and predominant TCM treatment methods. Our empirical analysis included descriptive statistics, intergroup chi-square analysis, and binary logistic regression to examine the association between different types of facilities and individual characteristics and TCM utilization patterns. RESULTS: A total of 7618 clinical physicians comprised our study sample. Among them, 84.27% have integrated TCM and Western medicine in their clinical practice, and 80.77% of TCM practitioners used the 4 diagnostic methods as a tool in their clinical practice. Chinese herbal medicine was the most widely utilized modality by Chinese TCM physicians (used by 88.49% of respondents), compared with the Chinese patent medicine and non-pharmacological TCM methods, which were used by 73.14%, and 69.39%, respectively. Herbal tea as an out-of-pocket health-maintenance intervention is also a notable practice, recommended by 29.43% of physicians. Significant variations exist across certain institutions, departments, and individual practitioners. CONCLUSION Given that most of the surveyed physicians integrated TCM with Western medicine in their clinical practices, the practice of "pure TCM" appears to be obsolete in China's tertiary healthcare institutions. Notably, remarkable variation exists in the use of different TCM modalities across institutions and among individuals, which might be related to and thus limited by the practitioners' experience. Future research focusing on the efficacy and safety of TCM interventions for specific diseases, the development of standardized clinical guidelines, and the enhancement of TCM education and training are called for to optimize TCM-Western medicine integration. Please cite this article as: Guo R, Zeng D, Zhao Q, Zhang XY, Zhang XK, Liu YL. How are different traditional Chinese medicine modalities deployed by clinical practitioners in China? Findings from a national survey. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(1): 36-45.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; China ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Female ; Male ; Physicians/statistics & numerical data* ; Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data* ; Adult ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVE: To analysis the medication characteristics of the prescriptions issued via open channel by the National and Provincial Health Committee and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: We collected the data of traditional Chinese medicine related to treatment plans published by the National and Provincial Health Committee and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine from the start of COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan to February 19, 2020. The frequency analysis, cluster analysis and correlation analysis were performed. RESULTS: The study collected 4 national and 34 regional prevention and treatment plans, 578 items, 84 traditional Chinese formulations, 60 Chinese patent medicines, and 230 Chinese herbs. The high frequently used herbs were , , , and . The commonly used traditional formulations included Decoction, Powder, and Decoction. The Chinese patent drugs included Pill, Injection, and Capsule. The most common paired medications were and , and . Two core combinations and one novel formula were discovered in the study. CONCLUSIONS Powder and Decoction are the basic formulations for syndrome of COVID-19. In addition, Decoction, Powder, Decoction and Decoction are the basic formulations for syndrome of COVID-19. The main medication characteristics are clearing heat, entilating lung, removing toxicity and removing turbidity. It shows that removing toxicity and eliminating evil are the prescription thought in treating epidemic disease of traditional Chinese medicine.
Betacoronavirus ; Cluster Analysis ; Coronavirus Infections ; therapy ; Data Mining ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; statistics & numerical data ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; therapy

To analyze the medication regularity of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) prescriptions for gastropyretic excessiveness diabetes recorded in Chinese Medicine Prescriptions Dictionary. A total of 103 eligible prescriptions were input into the system platform, and the Apriori algorithm was used to analyze their medication regularity. The 103 prescriptions for gastropyretic excessiveness diabetes were selected from the system, and 29 herb medicines were found with frequency of usage more than 8. Totally 33 commonly used herbal pairs(support degree≥10), twenty-three 3-herb core combinations(support degree≥8, confidence values≥0.5), and twenty-one 4-herb core combinations(confidence values≥0.5) were discovered after the medication regularity analysis by Apriori algorithm. The herbal medicine combinations with the highest correlation degree were discovered after the association rule analysis on the 103 prescriptions(support degree≥10, confidence values≥0.5). The four properties, five tastes, channel distributions and frequency of dose of the 103 prescriptions were also obtained after the corresponding analysis. According to the analysis and summary of the above data, the combination of Trichosanthis Radix, Anemarrhenae Rhizoma, Coptidis Rhizoma and Ophiopogonis Radix could reflect the medication regularity of TCM prescriptions for gastropyretic excessiveness diabetes to a certain degree, which is of great significance in guiding value in clinic.
Data Mining ; Diabetes Mellitus/drug therapy* ; Drug Prescriptions/statistics & numerical data* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the serum levels of inflammation-related cytokines might be different between the healthy individuals and the psoriatic patients diagnosed of three varied Chinese medicine (CM) syndromes [blood-stasis syndrome (BSS), blood-dryness syndrome (BDS) and wind-heat syndrome (WHS)].

METHODSA total of 62 psoriatic patients were recruited and assigned to 3 groups according to their CM syndromes, including 27 patients of BSS, 21 of BDS and 14 of WHS. Another 20 sex- and age-matched healthy subjects were enrolled into the control group. Serum concentrations of multiple cytokines, including monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α), soluble CD4O ligand (SCD40L), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), epidermal growth factor (EGF), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-17 (IL-17), interferon γ inducible protein-10 (IP-10) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), were measured by a multiplexed flow cytometric assay.

RESULTSThe circulating levels of MIP-1α, TNF-α, IL-8, and IP-10 were significantly increased in the psoriatic patients compared with the healthy controls (P<0.01). Male and female patients tended to have higher serum levels of MCP-1 and IP-10, respectively (P<0.05). Interestingly, compared with the control group, 6 out of the 9 cytokines (MCP-1, MIP-1α, TNF-α, EGF, IL-8 and IP-10) were substantially increased in the BSS group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), whereas only MIP-1α and IL-8 levels were elevated in the BDS group (P<0.05 or P<0.01) concurrent with lowered concentrations of SCD40L and IL-17 (P<0.05). In the WHS group, MIP-1α was the only cytokine whose level was evidently increased (P<0.01), in contrast to IL-17 which was decreased as compared with the control (P<0.05). The psoriatic patients overall owned higher levels of MIP-1α and IL-8 in the circulation which were comparable among the 3 groups of CM syndromes (P<0.01). In contrast, TNF-α level of the BSS group was the highest among the three (P<0.01), followed by the BDS and the WHS groups.

CONCLUSIONSThe expression profiles of cytokines in the circulation might not be necessarily identical for psoriatic patients with different CM syndromes. Accordingly, the serum concentrations of certain cytokines could potentially be used as the ancillary indices for the clinical classification of psoriatic CM syndromes.

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Cytokines ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation Mediators ; blood ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Psoriasis ; blood ; Severity of Illness Index ; Statistics, Nonparametric ; Syndrome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVESTo investigate the clinical effect of sequential therapeutic intervention Yupei Qisun [compensating for weakness by invigorating Kidney (Shen) and Spleen (Pi) in advance] in Chinese medicine (CM) and hysteroscopic endometrial mechanical stimulation on the treatment of infertile patients with repeated implantation failure (RIF); and to study the differences in patients' endometrial thickness and type on the day of embryo transfer, serum hormone levels on embryo transfer day and clinical pregnancy outcomes.

METHODSIn the clinical study, 168 frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles for couples with RIF conforming to the research protocol were randomly divided into three groups: a CM group with 56 cycles (CM combined with FET), a hysteroscopy group with 55 cycles (hysteroscopic endometrial mechanical stimulation), and a control group with 57 cycles (conventional FET). Differences in endometrial thickness on the embryo transfer day, levels of serum estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) on the embryo transfer day, the E2/P ratio on the embryo transfer day, biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates, implantation rate, abnormal pregnancy rate and other indices were compared among the three groups.

RESULTSEndometrial thickness, E2 and P levels, and the E2/P ratio on embryo transfer day and other factors had no significant differences among groups. The biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, and implantation rates of the CM and hysteroscopy groups were significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05), and there were no significant differences between these two groups. The abnormal pregnancy rate had no significant difference among the three groups.

CONCLUSIONSSequential therapy of Yupei Qisun could significantly improve the clinical outcomes of rif-fet cycles, being equivalent to hysteroscopic endometrial mechanical stimulation, and provided a reliable method to treat such infertile couples.

Abortion, Habitual ; therapy ; Adult ; Embryo Implantation ; Embryo Loss ; therapy ; Embryo Transfer ; Endometrium ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Hysteroscopy ; Infertility, Female ; pathology ; therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Physical Stimulation ; methods ; Pregnancy ; Retreatment ; statistics & numerical data

To discuss the distribution of patents' holders for Chinese herbal compounds in treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, the patents' holders for Chinese herbal compounds in treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular were cluster analyzed by means of simple statistics and cluster analysis. Clustering variables were composed of patent applications, patent maintained number, related papers' quantity, etc. Chinese herbal compound patents' holders were divided into four categories according to their different scientific research and patent strength. It is the magic weapon for Chinese herbal compound patents' holders that have scientific research patents' transforming and make coordination of patent protection and scientific innovation.
Biometry ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; drug therapy ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; drug therapy ; Cluster Analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; therapeutic use ; Herbal Medicine ; economics ; legislation & jurisprudence ; manpower ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Patents as Topic

As an important part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), mineral medicine plays an irreplaceable role. However, little has been reported on its species and valence state of heavy metals and deleterious elements, and also the relevance to pharmacological effect and toxicology. The present paper, in a new perspective, summarized the determination of the species and valence state of heavy metals and deleterious elements in recent years, discussed the progress of the pharmacological effect and toxicology, and prospected for future study which might provide reference for mineral medicine.
Animals ; Drug Contamination ; statistics & numerical data ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; toxicity ; Minerals ; analysis ; pharmacology

Evidence-based medicine is advocated by WHO and adopted by developed countries for many years. In China, however, the selection of essential medicine and various medical insurance reimbursement schemes medicine is usually based on experts' experience of prescription practice which is under heavy critics resulting from the lack of related comparative efficacy and evidence-based research. The efficacy of Jian'ganle in prevention of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) caused by antituberculotics was evaluated in this study by comparison with Hugan Pian, glucuronolactone and reduced glutathione. Evidence was provided for relevant sectors such as Ministry for Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China and National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China to select and renew the Essential Medicine List (EML), the new rural cooperative medical scheme in China (NRCMS) list or the reimbursement list of industrial injury insurance. A total of 189 patients with initial pulmonary tuberculosis were divided into four groups who took antituberculotics combined with Jian'ganle, Hugan Pian, glucuronolactone and reduced glutathione respectively. Their liver function profile including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), total protein (TP), albumin (A) and globulin (G) were detected at admission as baseline and after treatment. The Jian'ganle group was compared with the three others by chi-square tests. In an aspect of maintaining bilirubin indexes normal, Jian'ganle was more efficacious than glucuronolactone. And Jian'ganle had a little more efficacy than reduced glutathione to maintain protein indexes normal as well. And the therapeutic regimen of antituberculotics combined with Jian'ganle was the best in treating tuberculosis and preventing DILI at the same time. The study showed that among the four hepatinicas which demonstrated similar prevention of DILI caused by antituberculotics, Jian'ganle has more advantages over the three others to some extent, which provides a reliable basis for health sectors to select and renew the EML, NRCMS List or the reimbursement list of industrial injury insurance.
Adult ; Alanine Transaminase ; metabolism ; Antitubercular Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; statistics & numerical data ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; metabolism ; Bilirubin ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; etiology ; prevention & control ; China ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Glucuronates ; therapeutic use ; Glutathione ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Liver Function Tests ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; drug therapy ; ethnology

Chemometrics is a new branch of chemistry which is widely applied to various fields of analytical chemistry. Chemometrics can use theories and methods of mathematics, statistics, computer science and other related disciplines to optimize the chemical measurement process and maximize access to acquire chemical information and other information on material systems by analyzing chemical measurement data. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has attracted widespread attention. In the research of traditional Chinese medicine, it has been a key problem that how to interpret the relationship between various chemical components and its efficacy, which seriously restricts the modernization of Chinese medicine. As chemometrics brings the multivariate analysis methods into the chemical research, it has been applied as an effective research tool in the composition-activity relationship research of Chinese medicine. This article reviews the applications of chemometrics methods in the composition-activity relationship research in recent years. The applications of multivariate statistical analysis methods (such as regression analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, etc. ) and artificial neural network (such as back propagation artificial neural network, radical basis function neural network, support vector machine, etc. ) are summarized, including the brief fundamental principles, the research contents and the advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the existing main problems and prospects of its future researches are proposed.
Informatics ; methods ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Statistics as Topic ; methods ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Support Vector Machine

The deep analysis has been done on the cases of adverse events and common injury of cupping therapy encountered in recent years in terms of manipulation and patient's constitution. The adverse events of cupping therapy are commonly caused by improper manipulation of medical practitioners, ignoring contraindication and patient's constitution. Clinical practitioners should use cupping therapy cautiously, follow strictly the rules of standard manipulation and medical core system, pay attention to the contraindication and take strict precautions against the occurrence of adverse events.
Hospitals ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; adverse effects ; instrumentation ; methods