School of Public Health affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, People's Republic of China.
Nutr J. 2013 May 6;12:57. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-12-57.
With the acceleration of industrialization in low or middle-income nations, the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among older adults is even more significant now in China. Contemporary treatments using Western medicine, such as anti-inflammatory regimens, may be effective in relieving the symptoms, but may have unexpected side effects. Some natural products may be effective in improving respiratory functions, yet their efficacies remain to be examined in randomized, placebo-controlled studies. To evaluate the effects of Lung Support Formula, a nutritional supplement which contains naturally derived Chinese herbal medicines, we conducted a clinical study among older adults in Shanghai, China.
A total of 100 patients over 50 years old were recruited and blindly randomized into the treatment or control group. The subjects took either 1 Lung Support Formula capsule or a placebo capsule twice a day for 12 weeks. All subjects were followed-up every 4 weeks to perform investigative and clinical examinations. Repeated measure of analysis of variance was employed to compare the trend of respiratory symptoms scores between the 2 groups during 12 weeks of follow-up.
Fifty patients from the treatment group and 49 patients in the control group completed the 3-month follow-up. No adverse events were reported in the treatment duration. The percentage of patients reported to have chronic cough, chronic expectoration and chronic bronchitis were significantly decreased in the treatment group when compared with baseline after a 3-month intervention (P < 0.05). The respiratory symptoms scores declined gradually with the lapse of time (P < 0.05) in the treatment group and there were no significant changes in the control group by repeated measure of analysis of variance (P > 0.05).
The clinical research shows that use of Lung Support Formula shows significant improvements of respiratory symptoms and is well-tolerated in short-term use among older adults. An additional study involving more subjects and longer-term follow-up would be needed to provide convincing evidence of the improvement of respiratory symptoms in the treatment group.
随着中低收入国家工业化的加速，中国老年人的呼吸系统症状现在更为显著。使用西药的现代治疗方法，如抗炎方案，可能在缓解症状方面有效，但可能有意外的副作用。一些天然产品可能有效改善呼吸功能，但它们的疗效仍需在随机、安慰剂对照的研究中进行检验。为了评估 Lung Support Formula（一种含有天然中药的营养补充剂）的效果，我们在中国上海对老年人进行了一项临床研究。
共招募了 100 名 50 岁以上的患者，并将其随机分为治疗组和对照组。受试者每天服用 1 粒 Lung Support Formula 胶囊或安慰剂胶囊，持续 12 周。所有受试者每 4 周进行一次随访，进行调查和临床检查。采用重复测量方差分析比较两组在 12 周随访期间呼吸症状评分的变化趋势。
治疗组 50 例和对照组 49 例患者完成了 3 个月的随访。治疗期间未报告不良反应。与基线相比，治疗 3 个月后，治疗组报告慢性咳嗽、慢性咳痰和慢性支气管炎的患者比例明显下降（P<0.05）。治疗组的呼吸症状评分随时间逐渐下降（P<0.05），而对照组在重复测量方差分析中无明显变化（P>0.05）。
临床研究表明，在短期使用中，Lung Support Formula 可显著改善呼吸系统症状，且耐受性良好。需要更多的受试者和更长时间的随访来提供治疗组改善呼吸系统症状的令人信服的证据。
