Clinical studies of Kampo medicine in Japan, 2000-2002

Abstract

Fifty-two articles on clinical studies of Kampo medicine published in various journals from 2000 to 2002 were reviewed and analyzed to clarify the trends of clinical studies. Most of the reports concern Obstetrics/Gynecology, Orthopedics, and Respiratory disease. One of the characteristics of Kampo clinical studies in Japan is that most of them are rather small. Seventy-one percent of the studies enrolled up to 50 patients.
It is important to explain why a certain Kampo formula is indicated for a certain patient. About 75% of the articles included an explanation in some form. Sixty-three percent of the reports studied the presence of adverse reactions during treatment and/or anomalous test values.
Seven articles were difficult to evaluate because of errors in methodology or unscientific description.