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      Hedyotis diffusa Combined with Scutellaria barbata Are the Core Treatment of Chinese Herbal Medicine Used for Breast Cancer Patients: A Population-Based Study

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          Abstract

          Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is the most common type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used in Taiwan, is increasingly used to treat patients with breast cancer. However, large-scale studies on the patterns of TCM prescriptions for breast cancer are still lacking. The aim of this study was to determine the core treatment of TCM prescriptions used for breast cancer recorded in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. TCM visits made for breast cancer in 2008 were identified using ICD-9 codes. The prescriptions obtained at these TCM visits were evaluated using association rule mining to evaluate the combinations of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) used to treat breast cancer patients. A total of 37,176 prescriptions were made for 4,436 outpatients with breast cancer. Association rule mining and network analysis identified Hedyotis diffusa plus Scutellaria barbata as the most common duplex medicinal (10.9%) used for the core treatment of breast cancer. Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San (19.6%) and Hedyotis diffusa (41.9%) were the most commonly prescribed herbal formula (HF) and single herb (SH), respectively. Only 35% of the commonly used CHM had been studied for efficacy. More clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these CHM used to treat breast cancer.

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          Prevalence of depression in patients with cancer.

          Depression is the psychiatric syndrome that has received the most attention in individuals with cancer. The study of depression has been a challenge because symptoms occur on a broad spectrum that ranges from sadness to major affective disorder and because mood change is often difficult to evaluate when a patient is confronted by repeated threats to life, is receiving cancer treatments, is fatigued, or is experiencing pain. Although many research groups have assessed depression in cancer patients since the 1960s, the reported prevalence (major depression, 0%-38%; depression spectrum syndromes, 0%-58%) varies significantly because of varying conceptualizations of depression, different criteria used to define depression, differences in methodological approaches to the measurement of depression, and different populations studied. Depression is highly associated with oropharyngeal (22%-57%), pancreatic (33%-50%), breast (1.5%-46%), and lung (11%-44%) cancers. A less high prevalence of depression is reported in patients with other cancers, such as colon (13%-25%), gynecological (12%-23%), and lymphoma (8%-19%). This report reviews the prevalence of depression in cancer patients throughout the course of cancer.
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            The global breast cancer burden: variations in epidemiology and survival.

            Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and the most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. However, the burden is not evenly distributed, and, according to the best available data, there are large variations in the incidence, mortality, and survival between different countries and regions and within specific regions. Many complex factors underlie these variations, including population structure (eg, age, race, and ethnicity), lifestyle, environment, socioeconomic status, risk factor prevalence, mammography use, disease stage at diagnosis, and access to high-quality care. We review recent breast cancer incidence and mortality statistics and explore why these vary so greatly across the world. Further research is needed to fully understand the reasons for variations in breast cancer outcomes. This will aid the development of tailored strategies to improve outcomes in general as well as the standard of care for underserved populations and reduce the burden of breast cancer worldwide.
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              Trends in complementary/alternative medicine use by breast cancer survivors: Comparing survey data from 1998 and 2005

              Background Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by women with breast cancer is often said to be increasing, yet few data exist to confirm this commonly held belief. The purpose of this paper is to compare overall patterns of CAM use, as well as use of specific products and therapies at two different points in time (1998 vs 2005) by women diagnosed with breast cancer. Methods Surveys were mailed to women randomly selected from the Ontario Cancer Registry (Canada) in the spring of 1998 (n = 557) and again in the spring of 2005(n = 877). Results The response rates were 76.3% in 1998 and 63% in 2005. In 1998, 66.7% of women reported using either a CAM product/therapy or seeing a CAM therapist at some time in their lives as compared with 81.9% in 2005 (p = 0.0002). Increases were seen in both use of CAM products/therapies (62% in 1998 vs. 70.6% in 2005) and visits to CAM practitioners (39.4% of respondents in 1998 vs 57.4% of respondents in 2005). Women in 2005 reported that 41% used CAM for treating their breast cancer. The most commonly used products and practitioners for treating breast cancer as reported in 2005 were green tea, vitamin E, flaxseed, vitamin C, massage therapists and dietitians/nutritionists. Conclusion CAM use (both self-medication with products and visits to CAM practitioners) increased significantly from 1998 to 2005. Now that more than 80% of all women with breast cancer report using CAM (41% in a specific attempt to management their breast cancer), CAM use can no longer be regarded as an "alternative" or unusual approach to managing breast cancer.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
                Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
                ECAM
                Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM
                Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                1741-427X
                1741-4288
                2014
                9 March 2014
                9 March 2014
                : 2014
                : 202378
                Affiliations
                1Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, No.123 Dinghu Road, Guishan Township, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan
                2Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan
                3School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan
                4Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan
                5School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan
                6Division of Radiotherapy, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
                7Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
                8Division of General Surgery, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
                Author notes

                Academic Editor: Karl Wah-Keung Tsim

                Article
                10.1155/2014/202378
                3966415
                24734104
                52f88d8a-ccfb-4652-a097-81268c0f3bd0
                Copyright © 2014 Yuan-Chieh Yeh et al.

                This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 3 December 2013
                : 25 January 2014
                : 28 January 2014
                Categories
                Research Article

                Complementary & Alternative medicine
                Complementary & Alternative medicine

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