Adjuvant therapy with Traditional Chinese Medicine and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the association between adjuvant therapy with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the real world.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study, we consecutively collected medical records of T2DM patients enrolled in the Metabolic Management Center (MMC) from October 2021 to April 2024. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of a TCM prescription within 6 months after enrollment in MMC management. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the differences in covariates between the two groups. The independent efficacy of adjuvant TCM therapy on glycemic control was assessed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression, and then further determined by subgroup analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 580 patients were included, with 441 patients (76.0%) receiving TCM treatment. Before PSM, multivariable logistic regression revealed that adjuvant TCM therapy was significantly associated with a lower incidence of poor glycemic control [odds ratio (OR) = 0.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.30, 0.73)]. After PSM, weighted regression analysis further confirmed this inverse association [OR = 0.60; 95% CI (0.39, 0.92)]. In addition, patients treated with Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) alone [OR = 0.45; 95% CI (0.27, 0.75)], non-drug therapy (NDT) alone [OR = 0.56; 95% CI (0.32, 0.99)], and CHM + NDT [OR = 0.43; 95% CI (0.25, 0.74)] all exhibited a reduced incidence of poor glycemic control compared with those who did not receive TCM treatment.

CONCLUSION

The adjuvant TCM therapy is beneficial for achieving optimal glycemic control, suggesting that adjuvant TCM therapy may be embraced as a viable glycemic management approach for T2DM patients with poor glycemic control.