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Abstract Aim This study aimed to evaluate whether integrated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine (WM) is more effective than WM for acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods Patients with AP were enrolled and divided into the TCM and WM (TCM risk ratio, 0.482; 95% confidence interval, 0.286–0.810; p = 0.005). The TCM&WM group was associated with lower risk of persistent renal failure, multiple organ failure, and infection, lower utilization of organ supportive therapies, shortened lengths of hospital and intensive care unit stay, and lower hospital costs. Sensitivity analyses showed similar results. Subgroup analysis favored TCM&WM treatment for patients aged < 60 years, with hypertriglyceridic etiology, and with admission interval between 24 and 48 h. Conclusion TCM&WM treatment can achieve lower risks of mortality and organ failure and better economic effectiveness in patients with AP than WM treatment. This study provides a promising alternative of TCM&WM treatment for AP in the real‐world setting.
Deng et al. (Sun,) studied this question.