Traditional Chinese medicine as adjunctive therapy improves the long-term survival of lung cancer patients

Liao, Yueh-Hsiang; Li, Chia-Ing; Lin, Cheng-Chieh; Lin, Jaung-Geng; Chiang, Jen-Huai; Li, Tsai-Chung

doi:10.1007/s00432-017-2491-6

Original Article – Cancer Research
Published: 12 August 2017

Traditional Chinese medicine as adjunctive therapy improves the long-term survival of lung cancer patients

Yueh-Hsiang Liao^1,2,
Chia-Ing Li^3,4,
Cheng-Chieh Lin^4,5,
Jaung-Geng Lin²,
Jen-Huai Chiang^6,7 &
Tsai-Chung Li ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3346-7462^6,8

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology volume 143, pages 2425–2435 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Purpose

Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the popular alternative treatments for cancer, mainly enhancing host immune response and reducing adverse effect of chemotherapy. This study first explored traditional Chinese medicine treatment effect on long-term survival of lung cancer patients.

Methods

This study evaluated whether traditional Chinese medicine combined with conventional cancer treatment improved overall survival of lung cancer patients. We had conducted a retrospective cohort study on 111,564 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients in 2000–2009 from National Health Insurance Program database.

Results

A total of 23,803 (21.31%) patients used traditional Chinese medicine for lung cancer care. Eligible participants were followed up until 2011 with a mean follow-up period of 1.96 years (standard deviation 2.55) for non-TCM users and 3.04 years (2.85) for traditional Chinese medicine users. Patients with traditional Chinese medicine utilization were significantly more likely to have a 32% decreased risk of death [hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = 0.61–0.63], compared with patients without traditional Chinese medicine utilization after multivariate adjustment. We also observed a similar significant reduction risk across various subgroups of chronic lung diseases. Qing Zao Jiu Fei Tang was the most effective traditional Chinese medicine agent for mortality reduction both in the entire lung cancer (0.81; 0.72–0.91) and matched populations (0.86; 0.78–0.95).

Conclusion

This study demonstrated adjunctive therapy with traditional Chinese medicine may improve overall survival of lung cancer patients. This study also suggested traditional Chinese medicine may be used as an adjunctive therapy for cancer treatment. These observational findings need being validated by future randomized controlled trials to rule out the possibility of effect due to holistic care.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported primarily by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence (MOHW 106-TDU-B-212-113004).

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Affiliations

School of Chinese Medicine for Post-Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Yueh-Hsiang Liao
School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Yueh-Hsiang Liao & Jaung-Geng Lin
Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
Chia-Ing Li
School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Chia-Ing Li & Cheng-Chieh Lin
Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
Cheng-Chieh Lin
Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan
Jen-Huai Chiang & Tsai-Chung Li
Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
Jen-Huai Chiang
Department of Healthcare Administration, College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
Tsai-Chung Li

Authors

Yueh-Hsiang Liao
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Chia-Ing Li
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Cheng-Chieh Lin
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Jaung-Geng Lin
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Jen-Huai Chiang
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Tsai-Chung Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tsai-Chung Li.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Public Health, Social and Behavioral Science Committee Research Ethics Committee, China Medical University (CMU-REC-101-012).

Informed consent

Informed consent of the study participants was not required because the dataset used in this study consists of de-identified secondary data released for research purposes.

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Liao, YH., Li, CI., Lin, CC. et al. Traditional Chinese medicine as adjunctive therapy improves the long-term survival of lung cancer patients. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 143, 2425–2435 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-017-2491-6

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Received: 10 July 2017
Accepted: 03 August 2017
Published: 12 August 2017
Issue Date: December 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-017-2491-6

Keywords

Traditional Chinese medicine
Lung cancer
Survival
Cohort study
Hazard ratio