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Use of Chinese herbal medicine therapies in comprehensive hospitals in central China: A parallel survey in cancer patients and clinicians

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Abstract

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), as the largest application category of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is widely accepted among cancer patients in China. Herbal slice (HS) and Chinese patent drug (CPD) are commonly used CHM in China. This study aimed to investigate the utilization of CHM among clinicians and cancer patients in central China. Five hundred and twenty-five patients and 165 clinicians in 35 comprehensive hospitals in central China were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire that was designed to evaluate the use of CHM. The results showed that 90.74% clinicians and 72.24% cancer patients used CHM during cancer treatment. The educational backgrounds of the clinicians and the age, education level, annual income, and cancer stage of the cancer patients were related to use of CHM. More than 90% clinicians and cancer patients had used CPD. Comparatively, the percentage of HS use was 10% lower than that of CPD use among clinicians and cancer patients. More clinicians preferred to use CHM after surgery than cancer patients did (20.41% vs. 5.37%). Enhancing physical fitness and improving performance status were regarded as the most potential effect of CHM on cancer treatment (85.71% among clinicians and 94.07% among cancer patients), in comparison with directly killing tumor cells (24.49% among clinicians and 31.36% among patients). As for refusal reasons, imprecise efficacy was the unanimous (100%) reason for clinicians’ rejection of CHM, and 95.58% patients objected to using CHM also for this reason. Furthermore, the side effects of CHM were more concerned by clinicians than by patients (33.33% vs. 15.81%). In conclusion, our survey revealed that CHM was popularly accepted by clinicians and cancer patients in central China. The reasons of use and rejection of CHM were different between clinicians and cancer patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Gang Chen  (陈 刚), Ting-ting Qiao  (乔婷婷), Hao Ding  (丁 浩), Chen-xi Li  (李晨曦), Hui-ling Zheng  (郑慧玲), Xiao-ling Chen  (陈晓玲) & Shao-ming Hu  (胡少明)

  2. Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Shi-ying Yu  (于世英)

Authors
  1. Gang Chen  (陈 刚)
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  2. Ting-ting Qiao  (乔婷婷)
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  3. Hao Ding  (丁 浩)
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  4. Chen-xi Li  (李晨曦)
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  5. Hui-ling Zheng  (郑慧玲)
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  6. Xiao-ling Chen  (陈晓玲)
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  7. Shao-ming Hu  (胡少明)
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  8. Shi-ying Yu  (于世英)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shi-ying Yu  (于世英).

Additional information

This project was supported by Hubei Provincial Health Department Research Fund Project of China (No. 2012Z-Y10).

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Chen, G., Qiao, Tt., Ding, H. et al. Use of Chinese herbal medicine therapies in comprehensive hospitals in central China: A parallel survey in cancer patients and clinicians. J. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Technol. [Med. Sci.] 35, 808–814 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-015-1511-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-015-1511-5

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