2020年10月6日刚在著名杂志循环《Circulation》发表的一篇《Treatment of Masked Hypertension with a Chinese Herbal Formula: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial》（1），这是上海瑞金医院王继光、李燕等联合山东中医药大学附属医院研究人员在Circulation杂志在发表的一项随机、安慰剂对照研究首次显示，天麻钩藤颗粒这种中成药对隐匿性高血压有效，而且比较安全。
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In this study, two well-known Chinese herbs were used, gastrodia and hook vine.
Gastrodia is a traditional Chinese medicine that is believed to have sedative and analgesic effects. Specific ailments treated by gastrodia include migraine, dizziness or vertigo due to inflammation of the liver, convulsions caused by excessive heat, paralysis, general fatigue, numbness of the hands or feet, and joint pain. Recently, gastrodia has been used to relieve neuropathic headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, nocturnal spermatozoa, dyspnea, stress-induced insomnia, and high blood pressure (2).
Uncaria is thought to contain an ingredient that acts like a calcium channel blocker in the heart and blood vessels, thereby slowing the heart rate and relaxing blood vessels, resulting in a hypotensive effect (3, 4).
In this study, they defined occult hypertension as 251 participants with an office blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg, but ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for daytime systolic blood pressure of 135~150 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure of 85~95 mmHg, were randomly divided into two groups in a 1:1 ratio and treated with Gastrodia gastrodia granules GUG or placebo 5-10 grams, twice a day, and their blood pressure was observed for 4 weeks.
The results showed that among 251 participants, intention-to-treat analysis showed that daytime systolic blood pressure and daytime diastolic blood pressure were reduced by 5.44/3.39 mmHg and 2.91/1.60 mmHg in the gastrodia granule group and placebo group, respectively. There was a significant between-group difference between daytime (2.52/1.79 mmHg, P≤0.025) and 24-hour BP (2.33/1.49 mmHg, P≤0.012), but nighttime and office blood pressure decreases were similar, with no statistically significant decrease in office blood pressure of less than 1 mmHg in both groups (P≥ 0.162).
Similar results were obtained by per-protocol analysis (per-protocol analysis) in 229 patients.
Moreover, for the use of proprietary Chinese medicines, only one adverse event (daytime sleepiness) was reported, and no serious adverse events occurred.
When I read this document, I was shocked, it was so concise and clear.
The design scheme is simple, divided into drug group and placebo group, the observation index is relatively single, the participants are not large (only 251 cases), the observation time is only four weeks, and then the results are obtained according to the intention-to-treat analysis and in line with the plan, and then it is properly published in Circulation? The medicine of the motherland is really broad and profound! It's time to do more research!
My colleagues, shouldn't everyone try to study Chinese herbal medicine? SCI in hand? Hahahaha!
However, it is expected that more Chinese herbal medicines will be thoroughly studied, and more traditional Chinese herbal medicines will be better used in clinical practice, which is our inheritance for thousands of years, and it is worth working on!
Thank you for the photos provided by my cousin, who is a herbalist!
Reference:
1.
2.https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gastrodia
3. The Novel Analogue of Hirsutine as an Anti-Hypertension and Vasodilatary Agent Both In Vitro and In Vivo
4. Advances in chemistry and bioactivity of the genus Uncaria
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