Traditional Chinese Medicine Compound Preparations Are Associated with Low Disease-Related Complication Rates in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 11,074 Patients

Yanyan Fang; Jian Liu; Ling Xin; Xiaolu Chen; Xiang Ding; Qi Han; Mingyu He; Xu Li; Yanqiu Sun; Fanfan Wang; Jie Wang; Xin Wang; Jianting Wen; Xianheng Zhang; Qin Zhou; Junru Zhang

doi:10.1155/2023/1019290

Traditional Chinese Medicine Compound Preparations Are Associated with Low Disease-Related Complication Rates in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 11,074 Patients

Biomed Res Int. 2023 Feb 23:2023:1019290. doi: 10.1155/2023/1019290. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanyan Fang^{1

2}, Jian Liu^{1

2}, Ling Xin^{1

2}, Xiaolu Chen^{1

2}, Xiang Ding^{1

2}, Qi Han^{1

2}, Mingyu He^{1

2}, Xu Li^{1

2}, Yanqiu Sun^{1

2}, Fanfan Wang^{1

2}, Jie Wang^{1

2}, Xin Wang^{1

2}, Jianting Wen^{1

2}, Xianheng Zhang^{1

2}, Qin Zhou^{1

2}, Junru Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230038, China.
² Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Application Foundation Research and Development, Hefei, Anhui 230038, China.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether traditional Chinese medicine compound preparations (TCMCPs) are associated with rheumatoid arthritis- (RA-) related complications (including readmission, Sjogren's syndrome, surgical treatment, and all-cause death) in patients with RA.

Methods: Clinical outcome data were retrospectively collected from patients with RA discharged from the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine from January 2009 to June 2021. The propensity score matching method was used to match baseline data. Multivariate analysis was conducted to analyze sex, age, the incidence of hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia and identify the risk of readmission, Sjogren's syndrome, surgical treatment, and all-cause death. Users of TCMCP and nonusers of TCMCP were defined as the TCMCP and non-TCMCP groups, respectively.

Results: A total of 11,074 patients with RA were included in the study. The median follow-up time was 54.85 months. After propensity score matching, the baseline data of TCMCP users corresponded with those of non-TCMCP users, with 3517 cases in each group. Retrospective analysis revealed that TCMCP significantly reduced clinical, immune, and inflammatory indices in patients with RA, and these indices were highly correlated. Notably, the composite endpoint prognosis for treatment failure in TCMCP users was better than that in non-TCMCP users (HR = 0.75 (0.71-0.80)). The risk of RA-related complications in TCMCP users with high-exposure intensity (HR = 0.669 (0.650-0.751)) and medium-exposure intensity (HR = 0.796 (0.691-0.918)) was significantly lower than those in non-TCMCP users. An increase in exposure intensity was associated with a concomitant decrease in the risk of RA-related complications.

Conclusion: The use of TCMCPs, as well as long-term exposure to TCMCPs, may lower RA-related complications, including readmission, Sjogren's syndrome, surgical treatment, and all-cause death, in patients with RA.

MeSH terms

Arthritis, Rheumatoid*
Humans
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
Morbidity
Retrospective Studies
Sjogren's Syndrome*