Who is Seeking Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for Cancer? Insights from a Large Cohort in a Rehabilitation Clinic.

IF 2 3区医学 Q2 MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL

Patient preference and adherence Pub Date : 2025-04-02 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.2147/PPA.S509263

Yong Zhang, Yiding Dai, Dan Kang, Qingsong Yu, Xiangxi Zhou, Xin Tian, Qiulong Chen, Yi Chen, Fang Liu, Qiuling Shi

{"title":"Who is Seeking Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for Cancer? Insights from a Large Cohort in a Rehabilitation Clinic.","authors":"Yong Zhang, Yiding Dai, Dan Kang, Qingsong Yu, Xiangxi Zhou, Xin Tian, Qiulong Chen, Yi Chen, Fang Liu, Qiuling Shi","doi":"10.2147/PPA.S509263","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely used in cancer care, yet its utilization features are not well understood. By providing a comprehensive overview of the demographic and clinical characteristics, symptom burden, HRQoL, and TCM constitution of cancer patients seeking TCM treatment, we aim to offer insights into the integration of TCM into cancer care.Patients and methods: The questionnaire collected data on demographic and clinical characteristics, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for Traditional Chinese Medicine (MDASI-TCM), the EuroQol-5Dimensions-5Levels (EQ-5D-5L), and the simplified version of the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ). A descriptive analysis was conducted to profile the patients' status and expectations of TCM. Chi-square or Fisher exact tests were employed to compare the distribution of TCM constitutional types across different cancer diagnoses.Results: Among 3047 eligible patients, 2796 (median age 55) completed the questionnaire and were subsequently included in the analysis. The cohort was predominantly female (56.5%), with lung cancer being the most common primary diagnosis (25.2%). Furthermore, 86.7% of the patients presented with a good performance status (ECOG-PS ≤ 1). The main reasons patients sought TCM treatment were to alleviate cancer-related symptoms (59.4%) and enhance immune function (55.4%). The most prevalent symptoms (scored 1-10 on a 0-10 scale) were fatigue (81.1%), followed by disturbed sleep (81.0%), and dry mouth (78.2%). The mean and median EQ-5D-5L utility scores were 0.81 and 0.89, respectively. About 83.4% of cancer patients exhibited a deviation in TCM constitution, with Yang-deficiency being particularly common among them.Conclusion: This study highlights the symptom burden, HRQoL, TCM constitution, and characteristics of patients who pursue TCM treatment. It advances our understanding of TCM's role in cancer rehabilitation by shedding light on target population potential needs of care. The findings provide a foundation for developing evidence-based strategies to enhance TCM application in clinical settings, optimize resource allocation, and improve rehabilitation outcomes for cancer patients.","PeriodicalId":19972,"journal":{"name":"Patient preference and adherence","volume":"19 ","pages":"883-896"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11972600/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Patient preference and adherence","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S509263","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely used in cancer care, yet its utilization features are not well understood. By providing a comprehensive overview of the demographic and clinical characteristics, symptom burden, HRQoL, and TCM constitution of cancer patients seeking TCM treatment, we aim to offer insights into the integration of TCM into cancer care.

Patients and methods: The questionnaire collected data on demographic and clinical characteristics, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for Traditional Chinese Medicine (MDASI-TCM), the EuroQol-5Dimensions-5Levels (EQ-5D-5L), and the simplified version of the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ). A descriptive analysis was conducted to profile the patients' status and expectations of TCM. Chi-square or Fisher exact tests were employed to compare the distribution of TCM constitutional types across different cancer diagnoses.

Results: Among 3047 eligible patients, 2796 (median age 55) completed the questionnaire and were subsequently included in the analysis. The cohort was predominantly female (56.5%), with lung cancer being the most common primary diagnosis (25.2%). Furthermore, 86.7% of the patients presented with a good performance status (ECOG-PS ≤ 1). The main reasons patients sought TCM treatment were to alleviate cancer-related symptoms (59.4%) and enhance immune function (55.4%). The most prevalent symptoms (scored 1-10 on a 0-10 scale) were fatigue (81.1%), followed by disturbed sleep (81.0%), and dry mouth (78.2%). The mean and median EQ-5D-5L utility scores were 0.81 and 0.89, respectively. About 83.4% of cancer patients exhibited a deviation in TCM constitution, with Yang-deficiency being particularly common among them.

Conclusion: This study highlights the symptom burden, HRQoL, TCM constitution, and characteristics of patients who pursue TCM treatment. It advances our understanding of TCM's role in cancer rehabilitation by shedding light on target population potential needs of care. The findings provide a foundation for developing evidence-based strategies to enhance TCM application in clinical settings, optimize resource allocation, and improve rehabilitation outcomes for cancer patients.

查看原文本刊更多论文

谁在寻求中医治疗癌症？来自康复诊所大队列研究的见解。

目的：中医药在癌症治疗中应用广泛，但其应用特点尚不清楚。通过对寻求中医治疗的癌症患者的人口学、临床特征、症状负担、HRQoL、中医体质等方面的全面了解，为中医与癌症治疗的整合提供见解。患者和方法：问卷收集了人口学和临床特征、MD Anderson中医症状量表（MDASI-TCM）、euroqol -5维度-5水平（EQ-5D-5L）和中医体质调查问卷（CCMQ）的简化版数据。对患者对中医的现状和期望进行描述性分析。采用卡方检验或Fisher精确检验比较中医体质类型在不同癌症诊断中的分布。结果：在3047例符合条件的患者中，2796例（中位年龄55岁）完成了问卷调查，随后纳入分析。该队列主要为女性（56.5%），肺癌是最常见的原发性诊断（25.2%）。86.7%的患者表现良好（ECOG-PS≤1），寻求中医治疗的主要原因是缓解肿瘤相关症状（59.4%）和增强免疫功能（55.4%）。最常见的症状（在0-10量表中得分为1-10）是疲劳（81.1%），其次是睡眠不安（81.0%）和口干（78.2%）。EQ-5D-5L效用得分的平均值和中位数分别为0.81和0.89。约83.4%的癌症患者出现中医体质偏差，其中以阳虚体质最为常见。结论：本研究突出了中医治疗患者的症状负担、HRQoL、中医体质及特点。它通过揭示目标人群的潜在护理需求，促进了我们对中医在癌症康复中的作用的理解。研究结果为制定循证策略，加强中医在临床中的应用，优化资源配置，改善癌症患者的康复效果提供了基础。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Patient preference and adherence MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

4.50%

发文量

354

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Patient Preference and Adherence is an international, peer reviewed, open access journal that focuses on the growing importance of patient preference and adherence throughout the therapeutic continuum. The journal is characterized by the rapid reporting of reviews, original research, modeling and clinical studies across all therapeutic areas. Patient satisfaction, acceptability, quality of life, compliance, persistence and their role in developing new therapeutic modalities and compounds to optimize clinical outcomes for existing disease states are major areas of interest for the journal. As of 1st April 2019, Patient Preference and Adherence will no longer consider meta-analyses for publication.