A new study has found that traditional Chinese medicine can be highly effective at treating respiratory issues in children. No parent wants to see their child sick, they want them to be the perfect picture of health at all times. However, this is not realistic, and it is normal to expect children to struggle with their health at times. This could be something as simple as a bug, or something more serious, like a respiratory illness that requires treatment. Studies and work are always being done to see what the best way to treat children is, and how they can be helped.
According to Medical Xpress, traditional Chinese medicine has been shown to be effective in children who have recurrent respiratory infections. This study was done by a large group of researchers in China, and their work can be read in the medical journal here.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for centuries, and it may have started as early as the 14th century BC. It is only now being looked at extensively by professionals to see how it works in the medical world when compared to more modern forms of healthcare.
The researchers wanted to look specifically at Yupingfeng (YPF). YPF has been known to help improve immune function, but there was not much evidence on how it would work when used against respiratory infections in children, specifically in children who got them multiple times.
The researchers wanted to explore this link, and they completed a study to look at the effectiveness of YPF and then completed a double-blind study. The study enrolled more than 350 children who had recurring respiratory infections, and they were all between the ages of 2 and 6 years old. They were divided into three groups.
The first group received YPF, the second group received a more conventional medication, and the third group received a placebo.
None of the participants, or their medical providers, knew which group they had been placed in as they wanted to eliminate as much bias as possible. They followed their treatment plans for 8 weeks and then there was a 52-week follow-up. In the placebo group, only 39% returned to “normal” standard. This may seem like a substantial number, but not when compared to the other groups.
In the group that had the conventional treatment, 67% returned to normal, but in the group that had YPF, 73% returned to normal levels. This shows that there is some promise, and further work is likely to follow.
Sources: Medical Xpress, Wiley Online Library