Consistency of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnoses and Herbal Prescriptions for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Completed

• Conditions: Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Registration Number: NCT00071149
• Lead Sponsor: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Brief Summary

Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) make diagnoses based solely on clinical symptoms. This study will evaluate whether TCM practitioners make diagnoses consistently.

Detailed Description

TCM is one of the oldest and most widely-used indigenous medical systems in the world. It is difficult to effectively practice or evaluate TCM outside of its core framework, which includes a diagnostic system that is more conceptual and less technologically driven than that of conventional medicine. TCM diagnosis relies entirely on clinical symptoms and signs that are discerned by the practitioner. The establishment of diagnostic and prescriptive consistency is crucial for efficacy studies involving individualized treatments within the TCM framework. This study will examine the consistency of TCM diagnoses and herbal prescriptions under controlled conditions.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients will be individually evaluated by three TCM practitioners; the diagnostic and prescriptive behaviors of the practitioners will be recorded and analyzed to determine: 1) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners assign comparable TCM diagnoses to the same RA patients; 2) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners prescribe comparable herbal formulas to the same RA patients; and 3) the extent to which TCM diagnoses are related to conventional clinical assessments and biomedical tests of RA. Variables that cause inconsistency will be identified and analyzed.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2001-11
• Study First Submitted: 2003-10-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2003-10-14
• Study First Posted: 2003-10-15
• Study Completion: 2004-04
• Status Verified: 2006-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2006-08-17
• Last Update Posted: 2006-08-18

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 120

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Maryland; 🇺🇸 Baltimore, Maryland, United States