Feigan granules improve traditional Chinese medicine symptoms scale scores for influenza patients: a prospective clinical observational Study.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of hospital-prepared Chinese medicine Feigan granules for influenza patients.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on influenza patients who visited the Fever Clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine between February 2024 and March 2024 were enrolled. Patients were divided into an observation group (Feigan granules combined with conventional Western medicine) and a control group (conventional Western medicine) based on whether they used Feigan granules. Main symptoms (including fever, cough and sore throat) and secondary symptoms (including chest tightness, poor appetite, muscle soreness and dry mouth) were evaluated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) symptom scale on the first day of the patient's visit and the third day after treatment. The degrees of improvement in the TCM symptom scores before and after treatment were compared using the paired rank-sum test, and the differences in the overall symptom efficacy index between two groups were compared using the Wilcoxon test.

Results: A total of 217 influenza patients were included. After treatment, the TCM symptom scores of both groups were significantly improved compared with those before treatment (all P<0.05). The median difference in the main symptom score before and after treatment in the study and the control groups was 7 points (95%CI: 6.0-8.0) and 6 points (95%CI: 6.0-8.0), respectively; the median difference in the secondary symptom score was 3 points (95%CI: 2.0-4.0) in both groups. The median difference in the total score was 9 points (95%CI: 8.0-10.5) and 8 points (95%CI: 7.0-10.0) in the study and control groups, respectively. In the subgroup with an initial cough score >2, the improvement rates of overall symptoms (97.06% vs. 92.59%) and secondary symptoms (92.31% vs. 85.11%) in study group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05); while there was no significant difference in the improvement rate of main symptoms (95.59% vs. 90.74%, P>0.05).

Conclusions: Feigan granules can improve the TCM syndromes of influenza patients, especially for patients with more severe cough.