Effects of integrative Chinese and Western medicine on arterial oxygen saturation in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome

Bao-yan, Liu; Jing-qing, Hu; Yan-ming, Xie; Wei-liang, Weng; Rong-bing, Wang; Yan-ping, Zhang; Xiu-hui, Li; Ke, Zhang; Ai-ming, Ren; Jun, Li; Bao-guo, Wang; Xu-dong, Tang; Wei-dong, Wang; Qing, Ni; Jin-ping, Zhang; Hong-jin, Wu; Wei, Zhou; Zhi, Geng; Yang-bo, He; Zhi-wei, Liang; Li-yun, He; Fan-zhu, Gao; Jin, Peng

Objective: To evaluate the effects of treatment of integrative Chinese and Western medicine (ICWM) on arterial oxygen saturation (SaO(2)) in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).Methods:The non-randomized, controlled trial was conducted on 447 SARS patients treated synchronously with western conventional treatment (WM group,n = 171) alone and ICWM (ICWM group,n = 276). The changes of the cases with normal level (≥95%) or abnormal level (<95%) SaO(2) were observed dynamically.Results: In the 3rd-14th day of the therapeutic course, the percentage of patients with normal SaO(2 ) in the ICWM group was higher than that in the WM group (OR = 0. 5178,P = 0.0038), and this tendency was more evident in patients of the severe type (OR = 0.18,P = 0.0001). However, the statistical significance of difference was only shown in patients for whom the ICWM treatment started in the early period after the onset (<-7 days after it, OR = 0.3803,P = 0.006), but not shown in those who received ICWM treatment later in the mid-late period of SARS (P>0.05).Conclusion: ICWM treatment, particularly when it is used for intervention in the early stage, is beneficial for maintaining normal SaO(2) in SARS patients.