Individualized Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment antibiotics for recurrent urinary tract infections: a multicenter, randomized controlled study
Abstract
Objective: To systematically assess the effects of individualized Chinese medicines on recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs).
Methods: This study recruited 230 adult female patients in the remission phase of rUTIs from five hospitals in China. The patients were randomly allocated to two groups: an individualized Chinese medicine group (n = 114) and a control group (n = 116). Patients in the Chinese medicine group received individualized Chinese herbs, which were evaluated for syndrome differentiation. Patients in the control group received antibiotic treatment combined with a Chinese medicine placebo. The duration of treatment was three courses of four weeks each, with a three-month subsequent follow-up. UTI recurrence rate, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome scores, 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36) score, and urine secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) were measured and analyzed before and after treatment in each group.
Results: Patients from the Chinese medicine group exhibited significant decreases in both short- and long-term UTI recurrence rates compared with the control group (P 0.05). The changes in TCM syndrome scores between the Chinese medicine and control groups were significant (P 0.05). The changes in the average SF-36 quality-of-life scores in the Chinese medicine group were also significantly higher than those in the control group after treatment (P 0.05). The Chinese medicine group also demonstrated a significant increase in urine SIgA expression.…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 230 participants or records.
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