Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

• Rhinitis (AR) is one of the most concerned public health problems worldwide, resulting from an inflammation of nasal membranes.
• Nursing students is one of the high risk groups, particularly when performing clinical practicum in hospitals in which they would contact with multiple allergens such as micro-organisms, detergents, chemical agents, and frequently used powdered latex gloves. More than 10% of these adolescents would present consistent AR symptoms such as nasal congestion, sneezing and sleep problems and In turn, these symptoms could affect their quality of life and academic performance.
• Non-compliance to medication or refusals to medical advice was common due to lack of efficacy, side effects, fear of being habit-forming, and/or expensive medical costs; and thus many preferred an alternative therapy for improved symptoms and bodily condition, and even full recovery.
• Chinese medicine treats the disease from the root, which is a complementary and alternative approach for holistic convalescence by changing unhealthy body constitution (health status) to healthy. However, little scientific evidence has been established for the treatment of AR with Chinese herbal medicine.
• This study aims to test the effects of two alternative treatments of Chinese herbal medicine, including Cure-Allergic Rhinitis Syrup (CS) and Yuk ping fung San, when compared with a placebo (i.e., wheat syrup with similar taste and smell) group, in reducing university nursing students' AR symptom severity and improving their quality of life and body constitution.

Methodology

• A double-blind randomized controlled trial with repeated-measures, three parallel groups design is adopted.
• Assessment and follow-ups would be taken place in an Integrative Health Clinic of The University under study.
• Stratified random sampling method in terms of the students' years of illness onset and gender has been used to allocate the subjects into one of the three study groups.
• Participants, assessor and researcher are concealed and blinded to the random group allocation, which would be performed by an independent clinic nurse.
• In order to maintain complete blinding, a clinic nurse will also administer the herbal medicine and keep the name list locked, and thus being confidential.
• Participants would be recruited from all of five full-time undergraduate nursing programs in School of Nursing of The University. After their eligibility for inclusion checked and baseline measurement performed with informed consent obtained, the participants would be grouped in terms of duration of the illness (0-2 years, 2-5 years and 5 or above years) and gender and then each would draw one labeled card from an opaque envelope (1=CS, 2=YS and 3=Placebo) from the clinic nurse to allocate them into one of the three groups.
• Quality of life and symptom severity would be measured with self-administered questionnaires, and body constitution assessment would be performed by an Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner, at baseline and immediately, one-month and three-month after the 4-week intervention.

Sampling