Evidence Based Research on Medication Patterns in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Tic Disorders: A Complete Review

To investigate the medication principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of tic disorders (TD) and to provide evidence-based references for clinical practice. A comprehensive search was conducted for literature on the treatment of TD using TCM from CNKI, Wan Fang Data, VIP, and PubMed. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, TCM prescriptions were extracted and entered into an Excel 2020 database. Statistical analyses, including frequency analysis, association rule mining, and hierarchical clustering, were performed using Excel 2020, SPSS Modeler 18.0, and SPSS Statistics 26.0 software. Totally 559 articles were included, comprising 1001 prescriptions, 369 herbs, and 13,678 frequencies. The properties of the herbs were primarily cold, warm, and mild, with the most common flavors being sweet, bitter, and pungent. The most frequent meridians were the liver, lung, and spleen. High-frequency herbs included Radix paeonia alba, Uncaria rhynchophylla, and Glycyrrhiza, etc. The primary efficacy included liver-soothing and wind-calming, tonifying spleen and Qi, and resuscitation-inducing aromatic, etc. The most frequent herb pairs were Uncaria rhynchophylla-Radix paeonia alba, Uncaria rhynchophylla-Glycyrrhiza, Radix paeonia alba-Glycyrrhiza, and Uncaria rhynchophylla-Glycyrrhiza-Radix paeonia alba, Radix paeonia alba-Gastrodia elata-Uncaria rhynchophylla. Forty herbs had a frequency of >100, which could be classified into 6 clusters: (1) hepatotropic and neuroregulatory herbs; (2) tonifying herbs; (3) hydragogue and dampness-regulating herbs, etc. Additionally, there were specific herb combinations such as Bupleurum chinense for liver-soothing, insect herbs for wind-expelling and meridian-unblocking, and Angelica sinensis and Ligusticum wallichii for removing blood stasis. This study highlights the key medication principles and herb combinations used in the treatment of TD with TCM, providing valuable insights into current treatment practices. Further research, including standardized clinical assessments and investigation into the mechanisms of these herbs and their combinations, is needed to validate and optimize their potential therapeutic effects.