Clinical Study Of The Supplementing Qi In Treating Allergic Rhinitis

"Allergic rhinitis" is a nasal disease with symptoms of acute recurrence of sneezing, rhinorrhoea, nasal obstruction and nasal itch. In Chinese medicine, it is called "bi-qiu". with the industrial growth,Its Incidence rate.Reaches 15-20% of the population globally.However in Hong Kong, the incidence rate even comes to 40.8% in children between 6 to 12 of age year. It certainly affects their health and quality of life substantially.In Hong Kong, western medication acts as major therapeutic approach of Allergic rhinitis by using medication such as antihistamine drugs, vasoconstriction drugs, glucocorticosteroid therapy, anticholinergic drugs and mast cells stabilizers to alleviate the symptoms, but the corresponding side-effects are huge. Immunotherapy is another therapeutic method but it is rarely used because of its irritation and low efficiency. In addition the course of treatment is so long that it is not easy for patients to get through.Chinese medication comes to use different therapeutic methods including medical herbs, acupuncture and plasters and have gained comparatively more efficient in this aspect. However, the recipes and the observed efficiencies vary from case to case. This study had selected Hong Kong, as a place of high incidence rate, to recruit patients suffering from Allergic rhinitis caused by Qi-deficiency of either lung or both lung and spleen. A comparative study was implemented to investigate the differences of drug efficiency between Chinese medicine and western medicine, through which to examine the therapeutic effect of Chinese medicine.Aim: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Qi invigoration and desensitization method ("Yi Qi Tuo Min Tang") in healing Allergic rhinitis caused by Qi-deficiency.Methodology: From 3rd Jan, 2008 to 28th February, 2008, 100 patients suffering from Allergic rhinitis caused by Qi-deficiency were recruited in HKU Chinese Medicine Clinics. They were randomized into 2 groups with 50 patients each. One group was treated with "Yi Qi Tuo Min Tang", a type of Chinese medicine formulated to reinforce the lungs and invigorate the spleen. Another group of patients acted as positive control by treated with Clarityne (Loratadine) and/or in combination with Rhinocort (Budesonide), a kind of nasal spray, depending on the disease severity.Results: Observable improvements were found in both Chinese medicine group and Western medicine control group, in which the total efficiency rates of both groups were 90%. There was no significant difference in total efficiency rate between these two groups, but the efficiency rate was significantly higher in treatment group (72%) compared with that in control group (34%, p<0.01). This implied that the therapeutic effect of Chinese medicine is better than that of Western medicine.Conclusion: Although both treatment and control groups alleviated symptoms of rhinorrhoea and nasal itch."Yi Qi Tuo Min Tang" in treatment group is apparently more efficient than control group in relieving nasal obstruction, primary and secondary symptoms of aversion to cold, sweating, aching lumbus, cold limbs, anorexia, clear urine, thirst and uncomfortable warm.