BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013 Aug 15;13:209. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-13-209.
Large-scale pharmaco-epidemiological studies of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for treatment of urticaria are few, even though clinical trials showed some CHM are effective. The purpose of this study was to explore the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions for urticaria by analysing the population-based CHM database in Taiwan.
This study was linked to and processed through the complete traditional CHM database of the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan during 2009. We calculated the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions used for treatment of urticaria, of which the diagnosis was defined as the single ICD-9 Code of 708. Frequent itemset mining, as applied to data mining, was used to analyse co-prescription of CHM for patients with urticaria.
There were 37,386 subjects who visited traditional Chinese Medicine clinics for urticaria in Taiwan during 2009 and received a total of 95,765 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 18 and 35 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (32.76%). In addition, women used CHM for urticaria more frequently than men (female:male = 1.94:1). There was an average of 5.54 items prescribed in the form of either individual Chinese herbs or a formula in a single CHM prescription for urticaria. Bai-Xian-Pi (Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz) was the most commonly prescribed single Chinese herb while Xiao-Feng San was the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula. The most commonly prescribed CHM drug combination was Xiao-Feng San plus Bai-Xian-Pi while the most commonly prescribed triple drug combination was Xiao-Feng San, Bai-Xian-Pi, and Di-Fu Zi (Kochia scoparia).
In view of the popularity of CHM such as Xiao-Feng San prescribed for the wind-heat pattern of urticaria in this study, a large-scale, randomized clinical trial is warranted to research their efficacy and safety.
针对荨麻疹治疗的中草药（CHM）的大规模药物流行病学研究较少，尽管临床试验表明某些 CHM 是有效的。本研究的目的是通过分析台湾基于人群的 CHM 数据库，探讨 CHM 处方治疗荨麻疹的频率和模式。
本研究与台湾全民健康保险研究数据库的完整传统 CHM 数据库相链接并进行处理。我们计算了治疗荨麻疹的 CHM 处方的频率和模式，其中诊断定义为单一 ICD-9 代码 708。应用于数据挖掘的频繁项集挖掘用于分析荨麻疹患者的 CHM 联合处方。
2009 年，台湾有 37386 名患者因荨麻疹就诊于中医诊所，共开出 95765 张 CHM 处方。18-35 岁年龄组的患者数量最多（32.76%）。此外，女性比男性更频繁地使用 CHM 治疗荨麻疹（女性：男性=1.94:1）。在治疗荨麻疹的单个 CHM 处方中，平均有 5.54 种中药或方剂。白鲜皮（Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz）是最常开的单味中药，消风散是最常开的中药方剂。最常开的 CHM 药物组合是消风散加白鲜皮，最常开的三联药物组合是消风散、白鲜皮和地肤子（Kochia scoparia）。
鉴于本研究中小枫散等 CHM 用于风热型荨麻疹的普及，有必要进行大规模、随机临床试验研究其疗效和安全性。
