Traditional Chinese Medicine in the prevention and treatment of stable angina pectoris in patients with coronary heart disease based on the theory of "phlegm and blood stasis" under guidance of evidence-based medicine: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether continuous treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) combined with standardized drug therapy from Western Medicine can further reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease and angina and reduce the incidence of angina pectoris in patients with coronary heart disease. METHODS: A multicenter, prospective cohort study of 1042 patients in 22 hospitals was conducted. A total of 423 patients with angina pectoris were treated with standardized Western Medicine alone (control group) and 619 with a combination of Chinese and Western Medicine (exposure group). The two groups underwent follow-up for 1 year to establish whether there was any improvement in the incidence of cardiovascular events or change in the curative effect. RESULTS: The incidence of primary endpoint events in the combined-exposure group decreased by 0.45% (P > 0.05) and the incidence of secondary terminal events decreased by 5.25% in comparison with the control group (P < 0.05). The total angina pectoris score clearly decreased in the Western Medicine group over the first 6 months, but the decline was more apparent in the combined-exposure group. CONCLUSION: Compared with treatment using standardized Western Medicine alone, providing TCM combined with Western medical treatment reduced the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with stable angina pectoris (grade Ⅱ endpoint) and effectively improved the curative effect.