Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture Reduced the Risk of Stroke After Bell's Palsy: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

Patients with Bell's palsy are more likely to develop stroke than the general population. The therapeutic effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on the risk of stroke in patients with Bell's palsy is unknown. We investigated the risk of stroke according to TCM use in Bell's palsy patients. Records obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database identified 9,863 patients with Bell's palsy, 238 of whom met study inclusion criteria and were categorized as TCM users ( = 119) or non-TCM users ( = 119). TCM treatment modalities and Chinese herbal medicine prescription patterns were analyzed. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis determined the risk of stroke. TCM users were at lower risk of stroke compared with non-TCM users (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.59;  < 0.004). In subgroup analyses, patients treated with both TCM and oral steroids were at significantly lower risk of stroke compared with those who used neither (aHR 0.05; 95% CI, 0.01-0.22;  < 0.001). The risk of stroke was also lower among those treated with TCM only (aHR 0.25; 95% CI, 0.11-0.59;  < 0.001) or oral steroids only (aHR 0.12; 95% CI, 0.03-0.39;  < 0.01), compared with patients using neither. TCM therapy may lower the risk of stroke after Bell's palsy. However, the retrospective nature of this study and characteristics of the database limit these observational findings. Our results deserve further verification in large-scale prospective studies.