Effect of early use of Chinese herbal products on mortality rate in patients with lung cancer

Patients with lung cancer are frequently treated with Western medical treatments. Recently, patients have begun to use Chinese medicine to strengthen the immune system and alleviate side effects. We aimed to evaluate the association between mortality rate and early use of Chinese herbal products (CH...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnopharmacology 2018-01, Vol.211, p.1-8
Main Authors: Shen, Hsuan-Shu, Wen, Shu-Hui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Chinese herbal products
Databases, Factual
Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use
Female
Hazard ratio
Humans
Lung cancer
Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy
Lung Neoplasms - mortality
Male
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
Middle Aged
Mortality rate
National Health Programs
Propensity score
Retrospective Studies
Taiwan
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Summary:Patients with lung cancer are frequently treated with Western medical treatments. Recently, patients have begun to use Chinese medicine to strengthen the immune system and alleviate side effects. We aimed to evaluate the association between mortality rate and early use of Chinese herbal products (CHPs) among patients with lung cancer. We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on the National Health Insurance Research Database, Taiwan Cancer Registry, and Cause of Death Data. Patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer between 2002 and 2010 were classified as either the CHP (n = 422) or the non-CHP group (n = 2828) based on whether they used CHP within 3 months after first diagnosis of lung cancer. A robust Cox regression model was used to examine the hazard ratio (HR) of death for propensity score (PS) matching samples. After PS matching, average survival time of the CHP group was significantly longer than that of the non-CHP group. The adjusted HR (0.82; 95% CI: 0.73–0.92) in the CHP group was lower than the non-CHP group. Stratified by clinical cancer stages, CHP group had longer survival time in stage 3 subgroup. When the exposure period of CHP use was changed from 3 to 6 months, results remained similar (HR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.76–0.95). Results indicated that patients with lung cancer who used CHP within 3 months after first diagnosis had a lower hazard of death than non-CHP users, especially for stage 3 lung cancer. Further experimental studies are needed to examine the causal relationship. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0378-8741
1872-7573
DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2017.09.025