Therapeutic results of integrative medicine treatments combining traditional Chinese with Western Medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Item

Title

Therapeutic results of integrative medicine
treatments combining traditional Chinese
with Western Medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Description

Am J Trad Chin Vet Med (2019), Selmer, Michael;Deng-Shan Shiau

Journal Publication

American Journal of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine

issn

1945-7693

Date

2019

Language

English

Author(s)

Selmer, Michael;Deng-Shan Shiau

Subject

Meta-analysis

Integrative Medicine

Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Abstract

Western and Eastern medicine both offer unique perspectives fundamental to veterinary care today. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to summarize and analyze recent clinical research to answer the question: Can better therapeutic outcomes be achieved by integrating Traditional Chinese (Veterinary) Medicine (TCM/TCVM) with Convention-al Western (Veterinary) Medicine (CWM/CWVM) rather than practicing CWM/CWVM alone. Publications were initially identified via internet search engines and were independently assessed to identify those that fit the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The conclusions of this systematic review were made based on the results of meta-analysis on the studies identified from the independent assessment. The initial literature search resulted in a total of 51 articles related to integrative medicine, and the result of the independent assessment found that 16 human clinical studies and 8 veterinary clinical studies were qualified for meta-analysis. In the analyzed human studies, the overall p-value was 3.18×10-27, which supports the hypothesis that inte-grating TCM with CWM is a more effective treatment strategy than treating patients with CWM alone. In veterinary studies, the overall p-value was 9.59×10-10, which also supports the hypothesis that, for veterinary patients, integrating TCVM with CWVM is a more effective treatment strategy than treating patients with CWVM alone. Based on the clinical study results reported in the literature to date in both human and veterinary patients, this systematic review and meta-analysis significantly demonstrates scientific evidence that integrating TCM/TCVM with CWM/CWVM would be a more effective treatment strat-egy than treating patients with just CWM/CWVM alone.