Chinese herbal medicine reduces acute hepatitis exacerbation in patients with hepatitis B virus infection: A case-control study in Taiwan

• Published in: Complementary therapies in medicine 2019-02, Vol.42, p.248-254
• Main Authors: Chen, Wan-Ling, Lin, Ching-Heng, Huang, Chun-Che, Tsai, Chia-I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute hepatitis exacerbation; Case-control study; Chinese herbal medicine; Chinese medicine; Chronic illnesses; Cirrhosis; Confidence intervals; Heart failure; Hepatitis; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus infection; Hepatoma; Herbal medicine; Infections; Kidney diseases; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Medical diagnosis; Patients; Risk management; Thyroid gland; Viruses
• ISSN: 0965-2299; 1873-6963
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.11.024

•We assess the acute hepatitis exacerbation and other risks in hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients with and without Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) use.•CHM use was associated with lower odds of acute hepatitis exacerbation and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma in patients with HBV infection.•Cumulative days of CHM use was no further dose-dependent decrease in risk of acute exacerbation and cirrhosis and hepatoma. Little information is available about the impact of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) treatment on acute exacerbation of hepatitis. This study aimed to assess the risk of acute exacerbation of hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma in HBV patients with and without CHM use. This population-based case-control study used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database from 2000 to 2013. Newly diagnosed HBV patients had acute exacerbation of hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma as the case group, while another patients had no acute exacerbation of hepatitis and cirrhosis and hepatoma as the control group. To correct the differences in sociodemographic factors and Western medication use between the two groups, propensity score matching was used at a 1:1 ratio, and resulted in a comparison of 1306 and 805 patients per group, respectively. Occurrence of acute exacerbation of hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma. Overall rate of acute exacerbation of hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma was 7.9% and 4.8%, respectively. Patients receiving CHM had a significantly lower risk of acute exacerbation of hepatitis (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] =0.20, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 0.13–0.31) and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma (aOR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.18–0.49) than those not receiving CHM after adjusting for relevant covariates. However, no dose-dependent relationship was exhibited for either incidence of acute exacerbation of hepatitis and cirrhosis and hepatoma. These findings highlight that the use of CHM was associated with a significantly reduced risk of acute exacerbation of hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis and hepatoma in patients with HBV. Future research could further explore the benefit of CHM therapies for treatment of acute hepatitis exacerbation.