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Consistency of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnoses and Herbal Prescriptions for Rheumatoid Arthritis

NCT ID: NCT00071149

Last Updated: 2006-08-18

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

120 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2001-11-30

Study Completion Date

2004-04-30

Brief Summary

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Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) make diagnoses based solely on clinical symptoms. This study will evaluate whether TCM practitioners make diagnoses consistently.

Detailed Description

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TCM is one of the oldest and most widely-used indigenous medical systems in the world. It is difficult to effectively practice or evaluate TCM outside of its core framework, which includes a diagnostic system that is more conceptual and less technologically driven than that of conventional medicine. TCM diagnosis relies entirely on clinical symptoms and signs that are discerned by the practitioner. The establishment of diagnostic and prescriptive consistency is crucial for efficacy studies involving individualized treatments within the TCM framework. This study will examine the consistency of TCM diagnoses and herbal prescriptions under controlled conditions.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients will be individually evaluated by three TCM practitioners; the diagnostic and prescriptive behaviors of the practitioners will be recorded and analyzed to determine: 1) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners assign comparable TCM diagnoses to the same RA patients; 2) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners prescribe comparable herbal formulas to the same RA patients; and 3) the extent to which TCM diagnoses are related to conventional clinical assessments and biomedical tests of RA. Variables that cause inconsistency will be identified and analyzed.

Conditions

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Rheumatoid Arthritis

Keywords

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Rheumatoid Arthritis TCM Diagnosis Traditional Chinese Medicine Complementary Therapies

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

DEFINED_POPULATION

Study Time Perspective

OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Rheumatoid arthritis
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

NIH

Sponsor Role lead

Principal Investigators

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Grant G Zhang, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Maryland

Locations

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University of Maryland

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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R21AT000590-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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