Data Mining Study on Prescription Patterns of Different Dosage Forms of Chinese Herbal Medicines for Treating and Improving Immune-Inflammatory Indices in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

To explore the prescription patterns of different dosage forms of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their effects on immune-inflammatory indices. Clinical data were collected from patients with RA in 4 hospitals (3 Class A comprehensive hospitals and 1 Class B comprehensive hospital) in Anhui Province, China, from August 2012 to June 2018 via the electronic medical record gathering system. Following extraction of prescription information, each prescribed herb was quantified and standardized according to the knowledge base to establish a database of RA treatment formulae. The medical records were divided into the granules group and decoction pieces group. Core herbs and their combination patterns were obtained from the two groups of cases using Liquorice software. Changes in immune-inflammatory and hepatic and renal function indices were compared between the two groups using SPSS 23.0 software. The Aprior module of SPSS Clementine 11.1 software was applied to analyse the correlation between CHMs and improvement in indices. Finally, the ORACLE 10 g tool was used to evaluate the random walk model of the immune-inflammatory indices between the two groups. (1) We retrospectively analysed 35,898 prescriptions for 6,829 patients with RA who received CHM treatment. There were 3,816 patients in the granules group and 3,013 in the decoction pieces group. (2) The core herbs were Pi (Spleen)-strengthening and dampness-resolving drugs, blood-activating and stasis-resolving drugs, wind/dampness-dispelling drugs and heat-clearing and detoxifying drugs. (3) Both dosage forms could improve immune-inflammatory indices in RA patients, with similar efficacy and no influence on hepatic or renal function. (4) Herba Siegesbeckiae and Oldenlandia had a stronger association with immune-inflammatory indices in the two groups. (5) The immune-inflammatory indices showed obvious improvement after treatment with granules and decoction pieces of CHMs, and there were long range correlations between the comprehensive evaluation indices and interventions. The principal CHM treatment methods for RA in four hospitals in Anhui Province are strengthening Pi and resolving dampness, activating blood and resolving stasis, dispelling wind/dampness and clearing heat. Granules and decoction pieces of CHMs have similar efficacy in improving immune-inflammatory indices in RA patients and could be used as treatment options for RA.