Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2024; 12(28): 6165-6172
Published online Oct 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i28.6165
Effects of traditional Chinese medicine on symptoms of patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus
Na Cui, Chen Zhao, Jun-Lai Xue, Xue-Wei Zhu
Na Cui, Chen Zhao, Xue-Wei Zhu, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China
Jun-Lai Xue, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China
Co-first authors: Na Cui and Chen Zhao.
Author contributions: Cui N and Zhao C contributed equally to this work, and are co-first authors; Cui N, Zhao C, Xue JL and Zhu XW contributed to writing and reviewing the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final version to be published.
Supported by National Key Research Foundation Project, No. 2020YFC2005202.
Institutional review board statement: All procedures of this study were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University (No.20211130003).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: Not available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xue-Wei Zhu, PhD, Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, No. 126 Sendai Street, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China. xwzhu@jlu.edu.cn
Received: April 8, 2024
Revised: June 17, 2024
Accepted: July 10, 2024
Published online: October 6, 2024
Processing time: 126 Days and 12.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Tinnitus affects 10%-30% of the population. Recent evidence suggests that tinnitus is associated with spleen deficiency. However, compared with kidney deficiency-related tinnitus, less research has been conducted on the impact of spleen deficiency-related tinnitus.

AIM

To investigate the clinical efficacy of using Guipi Wan and dietary and lifestyle modification based on traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus.

METHODS

We enrolled 110 patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus who were distributed into treatment (58 cases) and control (52 cases) groups. Tinnitus severity, sleep quality and emotional state were assessed by questionnaires [Tinnitus Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ); Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)] that were used for analysis in the two groups during the initial and intervention and after. In the treatment group, patients were treated with oral administration of Guipi Wan and consulted for healthy dietary and lifestyle modification. In the control group, patients were only assessed and not treated.

RESULTS

At the end of the 6-months, TEQ scores decreased significantly in the treatment group (P = 0.021) but not in the Control group. Significant effects in the treatment group were noted for PSQI total score (P = 0.043) and several PSQI component scores in the treatment group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the DASS-21 scores were significantly reduced in the treatment group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Guipi Wan combined with dietary and lifestyle modification based on regulating the spleen and stomach can be considered core to the treatment of tinnitus related to spleen and stomach deficiency.

Keywords: Spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus, Traditional Chinese medicine, Guipi Wan, Dietary modification, Lifestyle modification

Core Tip: To investigate the clinical efficacy of Guipi Wan and dietary and lifestyle modification based on traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus. The study found that Guipi Wan combined with dietary and lifestyle modification therapy based on regulating the spleen and stomach can be considered as core treatment of tinnitus related to spleen and stomach deficiency.