To find out Chinese herbal compounds (CHCs) with high frequency in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients of cold-dampness obstruction syndrome (CDOS) by inductively reviewing literatures concerning clinical application of CHCs, thus improving theoretical and medical practice levels of Chinese medical recipes.
The CHCs for treating RA patients of CDOS published in medical journals in recent 30 years were retrieved. The database of CHCs was set up. The herbal functions, meridian tropism, flavors and properties were statistically analyzed.
There were 126 single herbs in CHCs for treating RA patients of CDOS. The top 31 single herbs occupied 70.7% cumulative frequency, being high frequency CHCs for treating RA patients of CDOS. From the function aspect, the anti-rheumatic herbs, asthenia supplementing herbs, diaphoretic, and herbs for activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis were identified as high frequency CHCs. From the meridian tropism aspect, Gan-meridian, Pi-meridian and Shen-meridian, occupied the top 3. As for flavors, acid, bitter, and sweet occupied the top three. As for drug nature, herbs of warm property were used most frequently.
The high frequency CHCs obtained from analytical statistics could provide evidence for clinical medication.