Ayurpharmacoepidemiology Perspective: Health Literacy (Knowledge and Practice) Among Older Diabetes Patients Visiting Ayurveda Teaching Hospitals in India.

Older Indian diabetics lack proper health literacy making them vulnerable to complications. Assessment of health literacy was done by hospital-based cross-sectional study. Face-to-face interview was conducted by pretested structured questionnaires. Diabetes patients aged ≥60 years consisted of 56.22% males and 43.78% females; in addition, 34.2% respondents were without formal schooling. Diabetes was known to 63.56% respondents. Total knowledge and practice score of the respondents was good (18.9% and 35.1%), average (30.7% and 46.9%), and poor (50.4% and 18%), respectively. Knowledge and practice score was strongly associated ( P < .01) with religion, educational status, and diabetes duration with positive relationship ( R2 = 0.247, P < .01) between knowledge and practice score. The study highlights lack of health literacy among older diabetics undergoing ayurveda management. Baseline statistics will pave the way toward ayurpharmacoepidemiology.

Ayurpharmacoepidemiology en Route to Safeguarding Safety and Efficacy of Ayurvedic Drugs in Global Outlook.

Ayurpharmacoepidemiology is a new field developed by synergy of the fields of clinical pharmacology, epidemiology, and ayurveda. It will use the effects of ayurvedic medicinal products on large populations to describe and analyze the practices, evaluate the safety and efficacy, and carry out medicoeconomic evaluations. Good pharmacoepidemiology practices in ayurveda is projected to assist with issues of ayurpharmacoepidemiologic research. The embraced good pharmacoepidemiology practices guideline in this viewpoint will be able to provide valuable evidence about the health effects of ayurvedic herbs/drugs and consider different fields like pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, and drug discovery with ayurvedic reverse pharmacology approach, also pass out significant data for further basic sciences study in ayurveda biology, ayurgenomics, ayurnutrigenomics, and systems biology. Several unanswered questions about ayurvedic drug use and informed interventions or policies that can be addressed by informatics database, which will eventually demonstrate the credibility and rationality of ayurceuticals in the future.

Exploratory studies on the therapeutic effects of Kumarabharana Rasa in the management of chronic tonsillitis among children at a tertiary care hospital of Karnataka.

The effect of an Ayurvedic poly-herbo-mineral formulation Kumarabharana Rasa (KR) in the management of chronic tonsillitis (Tundikeri) in children has been assessed in this study. This clinical study was a double-arm study with a pre- and post-test design at the outpatient level in a tertiary Ayurveda hospital attached to a teaching institute located in district headquarters in Southern India. Patients (n = 40) with chronic tonsillitis satisfying diagnostic criteria and aged between 5 and 10 years were selected from the outpatient Department of Kaumarbhritya, SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital, Hassan. Among them, 20 patients were treated with Kumarabharana rasa (tablet form) at a dose of 500 mg once daily for 30 days (Group A). The other 20 patients were treated with Godhuma Vati (placebo) at a dose of 500 mg once daily for 30 days (Group B). In both groups, Madhu was the Anupana advised. After completion of 30 days of treatment, the patients were assessed on the following day and another investigation took place 15 days later. Statistically significant effects (p < 0.05) in the reduction of all signs and symptoms of chronic tonsillitis after KR treatment were observed. These results indicate that Kumarabharana Rasa has an ameliorative effect in reducing the signs and symptoms of chronic tonsillitis.

Ayurnutrigenomics: Ayurveda-inspired personalized nutrition from inception to evidence.

Ayurveda proclaims food and drugs are intersecting concepts that are vital for human survival and for the prevention and mitigation of diseases. Food interferes with the molecular mechanisms of an organism's "physiome". It is consumed in large amounts compared to any drug. Hence, research on its effect and interaction with genome is highly relevant toward understanding diseases and their therapies. Ayurgenomics presents a personalized approach in the predictive, preventive, and curative aspects of stratified medicine with molecular variability, which embodies the study of interindividual variability due to genetic variability in humans for assessing susceptibility, and establishing diagnosis and prognosis, mainly on the basis of the constitution type of a person's Prakriti. Ayurnutrigenomics is an emerging field of interest pervading Ayurveda systems biology, where the selection of a suitable dietary, therapeutic, and lifestyle regime is made on the basis of clinical assessment of an individual maintaining one's Prakriti. This Ayurveda-inspired concept of personalized nutrition is a novel concept of nutrigenomic research for developing personalized functional foods and nutraceuticals suitable for one's genetic makeup with the help of Ayurveda. Here, we propose and present this novel concept of Ayurnutrigenomics and its emerging areas of research, which may unfold future possibilities toward smart yet safe therapeutics.

Ayurveda in changing scenario of diabetes management for developing safe and effective treatment choices for the future.

Ayurveda described diabetes mellitus (DM) as Madhumeha. This ancient evidence-based system of medicine enumerated various herbs and formulations for its management, which needs scientific validation. Whereas translational "bedside to bench" approach in biomedical research is an upcoming concept, its application in traditional and complementary medicine can be interesting. The intersecting concepts in the field Ayurveda and translational research needs "omics" approach. The Ayurvedic biology concepts about DM have its close relations with present systems biology approach. Metabolic changes causing tissue damage connected with genetic and immunological irregularities leading to insulin resistance coincide with ancient knowledge. Combinatorial therapy according to Prakriti type as elucidated by Ayurgenomics should be carried on for further research. "Bedside to bench" approaches in research utilizing metabolomics and pharmacogenomics approach can be a major step towards changing the therapeutic strategy towards diabetes. Prameha which is described as the pre-diabetic state is a novel concept in Ayurvedic etiopathogenesis, while metabolomic parameters like lipid level in urine can be a thrust area of research to have a pre-diabetic screening method in high-risk populations. This tradition-guided research paradigm can open up novel opportunities in traditional knowledge-inspired systems biology and drug discovery against diabetes.

Quality of life and treatment satisfaction observed among Indians with diabetes foot ulcers undergoing ayurvedic adjunct therapy.

The purpose of the study was to assess the health-related quality of life and treatment satisfaction of diabetes patients (n = 36) with foot ulcers undergoing insulin and ayurvedic adjunct therapy. Retrospective hospital based cross-sectional design considered patients with diabetes foot ulcers undergoing 4-week treatment with insulin and ayurvedic combinatorial therapy. The Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life Questionnaire and Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire were completed for the assessment. The mean duration of diabetes among participants was 9.32 ± 5.3 years. Assessment of Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (total treatment satisfaction) score was found to be 26.0139 ± 5.20369, and Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life Questionnaire (average weighted impact) score was -3.0819 ± 1.83003. Relationship with diabetes complications showed that Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life Questionnaire score (P = .383) had no relationship, but Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire score (P = .039) showed significance. Integrated approaches for diabetes foot ulcer management with insulin and ayurvedic management have a favorable impact on patient-perceived quality of life.

Exploratory study on the ayurvedic therapeutic management of cerebral palsy in children at a tertiary care hospital of karnataka, India.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the leading cause of childhood disability affecting cognitive function and developments in approximately 1.5 to 3 cases per 1000 live births. Based on Ayurvedic therapeutic principles, CP patients were subjected to Abhyanga (massage) with Moorchita Tila Taila (processed sesame oil) and Svedana (fomentation) with Shastikashali Pinda Sveda (fomentation with bolus of drugs prepared with boiled rice). Study group received Mustadi Rajayapana Basti (enema with herbal decoction) and Baladi Yoga (a poly-herbo-mineral formulation), while the placebo group received Godhuma Vati (tablet prepared with wheat powder) and saline water as enema. Treatment with Mustadi Rajayapana Basti and Baladi Yoga improved the activities of daily life by 8.79%, gross motor functions by 19.76%, and fine motor functions 15.05%, and mental functions like memory retention got improved by 15.43%. The placebo group showed an improvement of 0.21% in daily life activities, 2.8% in gross motor, and 2.4% in fine motor functions. Mustadi Rajayapana Basti and Baladi Yoga proved to be more supportive in improving the motor activities and gross behavioral pattern. Further clinical trials are required to evaluate and validate the maximum effect of the combination therapy in a large sample with repetition of the courses for longer duration.