Hoang Don, Wong Ashley, Olympia Robert P
Surgery, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, USA.
Internal Medicine, The George Washington University Hospital, Washington, D.C., USA.
Cureus. 2023 Jul 5;15(7):e41426. doi: 10.7759/cureus.41426. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Topically applied compounds containing camphor and menthol have been used to alleviate pain, cold symptoms, and pruritus, historically predominantly in East Asia. Being not studied well, they are less recognized in Western medicine. Given the commonality of pain, pruritus, and cold symptoms in addition to the growing need for non-opioid treatment options, the authors investigated clinical applications of such compounds for their over-counter usage. The purpose was to analyze current clinical research and applications regarding the use of these topical agents. This study involved a bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed articles, published in English and indexed in PubMed from 2010 to 2022, pertaining to camphor- and menthol-containing compounds. There were 103 results, of which 15 (14.6%) articles were related to the treatment of disorders related to health, such as upper respiratory infection, pain, and pruritus. Excluded were "non-research" articles (e.g., letters to the editor), articles that do not involve human subjects, reports of improper application or misuse (e.g., ingestion), and articles pertaining to intraoral, intranasal, and ophthalmic agents. Of these articles, the originating journals, respective journal impact factor scores, publication years, study designs, and study topics were identified. Underlying trends and themes regarding clinically relevant research on these compounds were subsequently discerned. Based on this analysis, topical agents containing camphor and menthol are potentially effective at treating pain, upper respiratory infection symptoms, and pruritus in addition to potentially functioning as an antimicrobial. However, with a limited number of studies addressing these compounds' uses in each application, no definitive recommendation can be made regarding their use. Given the promising results of earlier studies, the authors recommend that more primary research, particularly randomized, double-blind controlled studies, be done regarding clinical applications of these substances.
历史上，主要在东亚地区，含有樟脑和薄荷醇的外用化合物被用于缓解疼痛、感冒症状和瘙痒。由于对其研究不足，它们在西医中不太为人所知。鉴于疼痛、瘙痒和感冒症状的普遍性，以及对非阿片类治疗选择的需求不断增加，作者研究了此类化合物在非处方用途方面的临床应用。目的是分析当前关于这些外用药物使用的临床研究和应用情况。本研究涉及对2010年至2022年期间发表在英文期刊上并被PubMed索引的同行评审文章进行文献计量分析，这些文章与含樟脑和薄荷醇的化合物有关。共有103项结果，其中15篇（14.6%）文章与健康相关疾病的治疗有关，如上呼吸道感染、疼痛和瘙痒。排除了“非研究”文章（如给编辑的信）、不涉及人类受试者的文章、不当应用或误用（如摄入）的报告以及与口腔内、鼻内和眼科药物相关的文章。在这些文章中，确定了原始期刊、各自的期刊影响因子得分、发表年份、研究设计和研究主题。随后辨别了关于这些化合物临床相关研究的潜在趋势和主题。基于这一分析，含有樟脑和薄荷醇的外用药物除了可能具有抗菌作用外，在治疗疼痛、上呼吸道感染症状和瘙痒方面可能有效。然而，由于针对这些化合物在每种应用中的使用的研究数量有限，无法就其使用给出明确建议。鉴于早期研究的 promising 结果，作者建议针对这些物质的临床应用进行更多的基础研究，特别是随机、双盲对照研究。
