Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, 404, Taiwan; Department of Chinese Medicine, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, 500, Taiwan.
Post Baccalaureate Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2019 Oct 28;243:112091. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2019.112091. Epub 2019 Jul 17.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition that affects 5%-10% of women of reproductive age worldwide. Patients with PCOS have a high degree of insulin resistance and are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The currently available therapeutic approaches for PCOS mainly focus on symptomatic treatment.
This study aimed to determine whether Chinese herbal medicine (CMH)-based interventions could reduce the risk of T2DM in PCOS patients.
This retrospective study randomly selected 1 million enrollees from the National Health Insurance Database and identified 3797 patients who were newly diagnosed with PCOS in 1997-2010. After 1:1 frequency-matched by age, diagnosis of PCOS year and index days, we selected 342 eligible patients in each group.
The incidence of T2DM in the CHM group was significantly lower than that in the non-CHM group (hazard ratio = 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.64; p = 0.0014) after a mean follow-up period of 5.2 years (4.20 years for the comparison cohort). Five herbal formulas and two single herbs showed protective effects, and Paeonia lactiflora was a common ingredient in the five formulas.
Thus, CHM may help prevent T2DM-related complications in patients with PCOS. Further clinical and pharmacological analysis based on these findings is expected in the future.
多囊卵巢综合征（PCOS）是一种常见病症，影响全球 5%-10%的育龄妇女。PCOS 患者存在高度胰岛素抵抗，患 2 型糖尿病（T2DM）的风险增加。目前，PCOS 的治疗方法主要侧重于对症治疗。
本研究旨在确定中药（CMH）干预是否可以降低 PCOS 患者患 T2DM 的风险。
本回顾性研究从国家健康保险数据库中随机抽取 100 万名参保者，并确定 1997-2010 年间新诊断为 PCOS 的 3797 名患者。经过年龄、PCOS 诊断年份和指数日的 1:1 频率匹配，我们在每组中各选择了 342 名合格患者。
在平均 5.2 年（比较队列为 4.20 年）的随访后，中药组的 T2DM 发病率明显低于非中药组（风险比=0.31；95%置信区间，0.15-0.64；p=0.0014）。五种方剂和两种单味药显示出保护作用，白芍是这五种方剂的常见成分。
因此，中药可能有助于预防 PCOS 患者的 T2DM 相关并发症。预计未来将根据这些发现进行进一步的临床和药理学分析。
