OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of Chinese medicine (CM) on patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) in a retrospective population-based study. METHODS: Between January 1, 2013, and August 30, 2016, according to whether received Western medicine treatment, the patients were included into either integrative medicine (IM) group or CM group. All enrolled patients were orally administrated with Gexia Zhuyu Decoction () or Liujun Ermu Decoction () by syndrome differentiation, twice a day, last for at least 2 months. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: A total of 174 patients with PC were enrolled in this study. In stage I/II, the median OS was 20.5 months in the IM group [95% confidence interval (CI), 12.499 to 28.501] and 11.17 months in the CM group (95% CI, 5.160 to 17.180, P=0.015). The 1- and 2-year survival rates for the two groups were 47.0%, 40.0% and 21.0%, 21.0%, respectively. In stage III/IV, median OS was 13.53 months (95% CI, 8.665 to 18.395) in the IM group versus 6.4 months (95% CI, 0.00 to 15.682) in the CM group, respectively (P=0.32). The 1- and 2-year survival rate for the IM and CM groups were 27.0%, 7.0% and 20.0%, 2.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention of CM contributes to the different survival benefits for PC in different stages. Multimodality treatment might be a promising strategy for PC patients in early stage. While, in advanced stage, CM might be an alternative candidate for PC patients.