Associations of Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapy with Risks of Lower-Limb Amputation, Cardiovascular Mortality and All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease—A Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: This is a retrospective cohort study assessing the association between the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the risk of lower-limb amputation, cardiovascular (CV) mortality, and all-cause mortality among people with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). METHODS: The study utilized data from the National Health Insurance Research Database of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan. A 1:1 propensity score matching ratio based on gender, age (5-year interval), comorbidities, medications, and year of index date.The risk of outcomes among PAOD patients with and without TCM use was estimated by a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: The study findings showed that TCM treatment was associated with a significant decreased risk of lower-limb loss (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.50-0.61), CV death (aHR = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.31-0.34), and all-cause mortality (aHR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.34-0.35) among people with PAOD, especially for CV death and all-cause death. CONCLUSION: We found that patients with PAOD treated with TCM have a decreased risk of endpoints, especially for CV death and all-cause death.