A Real World Study On The Efficacy Of Chinese Medicine In Weight Management In Overweight/Obese People

ObjectiveBased on practical research,this study conducts a retrospective analysis of clinical data on the application of traditional Chinese medicine to treat obesity on the basis of the interventions of diet,exercise,behavioral habits,etc.,and initially explored the efficacy changes of weight management after applying traditional Chinese medicine on the basis of lifestyle intervention and other interventions,expecting to provide a certain reference for the optimization of clinical obesity treatment and weight management model.MethodsIn this study,patients treated in the Weight Management Clinic of the preventive Treatment Center of Xiyuan Hospital from November 2017 to January 2020 were selected as subjects.Taking TCM was used as an exposure factor,with the dosage form alternative from self-decocted TCM decoction pieces,hospital-decocted decoctions and granula.According to whether the patients took TCM within 4 weeks and the time of taking TCM,the patients were divided into 4 groups:non-exposure group(the time of taking TCM?7 days),low-exposure group(7 days<the time of taking TCM?14 days),medium-exposure group(14 days<the time of taking TCM?21 days),and high-exposure group(21 days<the time of taking TCM?28 days).The clinical data of the patients with weight management within 4 weeks were collected,and the difference in the efficacy in weight loss among different exposure groups was compared.Confounding factors are important interference factors in retrospective studies.Based on clinical experience and literature review,it is found that age,gender,education level,diet,exercise,smoking,drinking,mental status,etc.are significant factors affecting obesity.Single factor analysis and multiple linear regression and other methods are used to control confounding factors among various groups.ResultsAccording to the time of taking TCM,the included patients were divided into non-exposure group(n=25,31.6%),low-exposure group(n=27,34.2%),medium-exposure group(n=16,20.3%)and high-exposure group(n=11,13.9%).1 Comparison of baseline data:Gender,age,body fat percentage,skeletal muscle mass,baseline indexes of cardiorespiratory endurance and obesity stage,showed no statistically significant differences among each group.However,BMI before intervention presented differences.The effects of BMI before intervention and the time of taking TCM on the percentage of weight loss in the original body weight were tested using multiple linear regression,revealing that the regression model results were statistically significant(F=10.055,p<0.001,adjusted R2=0.18).Among them,the effect of the weeks of taking TCM on weight loss was statistically significant(p=0.000),while the effect of BMI before intervention on weight loss was not statistically significant(p=0.635).2 Characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine constitution:The constitution of study subject included is mixed by deficiency and excess with yang deficiency is the reason,and phlegm-dampness and dampness-heat are the outer phenomenon.The results of the traditional Chinese medicine constitution identification scale are primarily phlegm-dampness constitution and dampness-heat constitution.The results of infrared thermal imaging show that the study subjects have cooler deviations in the heart,kidney,middle energizer,and lower energizer,and the heat deviations of the head and liver meridian are more obvious.3 Weight management efficacy:the medium-exposure group,high-exposure group and non-exposure group show statistical significance(p<0.05)in terms of the decreased values of weight,BMI,waistline,and body fat percentage,and the weight loss rate is higher;while there are no significant differences between the low-exposure group and the non-exposure group(p<0.05),and there are no obvious change in the weight loss rate;there are no prominent difference in the change of decreased value in skeletal muscle among the groups(p>0.05).After taking Chinese medicine,the symptoms of fatigue,defecate disorders,anorexia,and insomnia have been improved.The total effective rate of the medium-exposure group and the high-exposure group are higher.Conclusion1 On the basis of the interventions of diet,exercise,behavior,etc,plus 3 weeks or more Chinese medicine treatment can increase the weight loss rate,promote the standard rate of weight management,shorten the time required for weight loss to meet the standard,reduce BMI,waistline,body fat percentage of obese patients.2 Obese patients taking traditional Chinese medicine can improve clinical symptoms such as fatigue,defecate disorders,etc.by adjusting the body's yang deficiency state,adjusting the functions of spleen and kidney and other functions of internal organs,and employed jointly with diet,exercise,behavior and other interventions to the treatment of obesity.