Treatment of Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease with Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine : A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Pilot Clinical Study

Abstract EN

The objective of this clinical study is to examine the effects of a Chinese herbal medicine formula (Jia Wei Liu Jun Zi Tang: JWLJZT) on motor and non-motor symptoms, and on complications of conventional therapy in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), using an add-on design.

Fifty-five patients with PD were randomly allocated to receive either Chinese herbal medicine or placebo for 24 weeks.

Primary outcome measure was the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39).

Secondary outcome measures included the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), home diaries, and a range of category rating scales.

JWLJZT resulted in a significant improvement in the UPDRS IVC when compared with placebo at 12 weeks (P = .039) and 24 weeks (P = .034).

In addition, patients in the Chinese herbal medicine group also showed significant improvement in PDQ-39 communication scores at 12 weeks (P = .024) and 24 weeks (P = .047) when compared with the placebo group.

There were no significant differences between treatment and control groups for SF-36 variables, GDS score or the mean daily “on-off” time.

One case of mild diarrhea was noted in the treatment group.

The findings suggest that JWLJZT can relieve some non-motor complications of conventional therapy and improve the communication ability in patients with PD.

The results of this pilot study warrant larger multi-center clinical studies to assess long-term efficacy and tolerability of JWLJZT, and to elucidate the mechanisms by which it affects PD function.