Chinese herbal medicine for patients living with HIV in Guangxi province, China: an analysis of two registries

Jin Sun,Mei Han,Wen-Yuan Li,Nuala Mcgrath,Yu-Tong Fei,Jing Li,Xin Deng,Jian-Ping Liu,Nicola Robinson,Bin Wen,Ying Zhang,Zhen-Wei Liu,Feng Jiang

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53725-x

Abstract

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is the recommended first line therapy for patients with HIV. Since 2004, Chinese government has provided free Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for Chinese HIV/AIDS patients. Data of living patients with HIV from the NFTCMP database and Center for Disease Control (CDC) database during 2003–2016 in Guangxi province was obtained and compared. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to their recorded treatment regimens. A total of 2954 patients with their treatment recorded in the two databases were included for analysis, their median age was 46 years (IQR = 36–59), and 64.63% were male. CHM regimens users had baseline CD4 cell counts (380.11 ± 240.59 cell/μL), approximately 100 cell/μL significantly higher than patients receiving CHM combined with ART regimens or only ART regimens. There was no significant difference in mortality among groups. All three regimens improved patients’ CD4 cell counts. Compared to the sharp improvement in ART group during the first 6 months, CD4 cell counts of patients in CHM group and CHM combined with ART group showed a smooth and steady rise. CD4 cell counts of the combined group remained much lower than ART group in the first 3 years, but overtook ART group in the fourth year.

Highlights

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is the recommended first line therapy for patients with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) regimens users had better baseline status of CD4 cell counts (376.80 ± 213.53 cell/μL, median 371, interquartile range (IQR) = 235.5–488.5 cell/μL), around 100 cell/μL higher than the patients with CHM combined with ART regimens (271.45 ± 181.54, median 237, IQR = 148–347 cell/μL) and ART regimens (258.17 ± 133.01, median 255, IQR = 166–348 cell/μL), and there was no significant difference between CHM combined with ART group and ART group
Compared to the initial sharp improvement in the ART group, the CD4 cell counts of patients in CHM group and CHM combined with ART group rose steadily and smoothly and respectively peaked at 499.49 ± 199.25 and 438.38 ± 200.68 cell/μL by 48 months

Summary

Introduction

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is the recommended first line therapy for patients with HIV. Compared to the sharp improvement in ART group during the first 6 months, CD4 cell counts of patients in CHM group and CHM combined with ART group showed a smooth and steady rise. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report[1], at the end of 2015, there were 36.7 million [34.0 million–39.8 million] people living with HIV, and more than 18 million people were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) by mid-2016. HIV/AIDS remains one of the most important public health problems in China and no longer restricted to blood donors and drug users but increasingly spreading through the general population due to unsafe sex, especially among men who have had sex with men[3,4,5]. Characteristic Marital status— no. (%) Single Married Divorced widowed Educational levels— no. (%) College graduate Senior high school Junior middle school Elementary school Unschooled Preschool possible HIV-infected route Blood transfusion Drug taking Sexual behavior Mother-to-child transmission Paid blood donation Unclear

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