Kampo Treatment of Patients with Common Cold Syndrome Associated with Fever / 日本東洋医学雑誌

ABSTRACT

Suppression of fever with antipyretics has been reported to increase mortality in animals experimentally infected with various viruses. To study the adverse effects of antipyretics, 80 patients with the common cold (students of this school) who were previously untreated were enrolled in this study. The author compared the therapeutic effects of fenoprofen (1200mg/day) as an antipyretic (P group) with Kampo formulas (K group). Of the various Kampo formulas, “Hozai” were selected, according to each patient's Sho (pattern of symptoms assessed by Kampo diagnosis. Each “Hozai” chosen had been pharmacologically proven to have no direct antipyretic effect.<br>Statistical analysis of the 45 patients of the P group and 35 patients of the K group that exhibited fevers over 37 degrees. The background as to sex, sge, time elapsed after symptom onset, place of oirgin, the length of the period between highschool graduation and admission to this university and the conditions under which daily meals were taken were analyzed and no statistical differences were found between the two groups. The duration of fever after treatment was 2.6±1.7 days in the P group and 1.5±0.8 days in the K group (p<0.001) respectively, and the incidence of rebound of the fever was higher in the P group (11.1%) than in the K group (0%). The time elapsed before all symptoms disappeared, such as sore throat, nasal discharge, or cough was 6.6±3.6 days in the P group, and 5.1±1.9 days in the K group (p<0.05).<br>It was concluded that treatment using Kampo was more beneficial than the use of antipyretics, and that the fever associated with the common cold is a positive response of the body, suppression of which is undesirable.