Complementary and integrative remedies in the treatment of chronic pruritus: A review of clinical trials

Abstract

Background: Chronic pruritus is one of the most common conditions in dermatology and a common manifestation in many systemic diseases. Since the etiology of chronic pruritus remains somewhat unknown, hence, conventional medications may not always show a good therapeutic response. This finding has led both investigators and patients to use herbal and complementary remedies for its treatment. The aim of this study was to review clinical trials in which herbal and complementary medicine was used in the control and treatment of chronic pruritus. Materials and methods:In this study, we reviewed related articles in this domain, from 2000 to 2020. The search involved electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and SID databases using the keywords "pruritus," "itch," "herb," "complementary medicine," "traditional medicine," "integrative medicine," and their related MeSH terms. Finally, we extracted the pertinent information from these articles and summarized the results. Results:The findings of this study showed that 17 clinical trials have been conducted till date in order to evaluate the efficacy of herbal remedies and complementary medicines in the treatment of chronic pruritus. Herbal remedies including turmeric, Fumaria parviflora, Avena sativa, capsaicin, sweet almond oil, peppermint oil, violet oil, vinegar, as well as manual therapies including aromatherapy, auricular acupressure, and acupuncture, were significantly effective in the treatment of chronic pruritus. Conclusion:There are only a few studies published on the therapeutic efficacy of herbal remedies and complementary medicine in the treatment of chronic pruritus. Some have shown promising results. Therefore, more evidence-based studies are needed in order to determine if herbal remedies and complementary medicine could be an effective alternative or adjuvant treatment modality in chronic pruritus.

Integrative medicine (East Asian herbal medicine combined with conventional medicine) for psoriasis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

“…[12][13][14][15][17][18][19][20] On the other hand, studies on chronic disease management applying the integrative medicine (IM) perspective tend to be actively conducted in countries with experience in using medicinal herbs. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] IM is a holistic approach that simultaneously utilizes all available complementary treatments and conventional treatments. [29] The combination of CMs and herbal remedies, in particular, as a subsection of IM, has demonstrated better therapeutic performance and safety than conventional treatments in various conditions, including coronavirus disease 2019, cancer, stroke, chronic pruritus, and rheumatoid arthritis.…”

“…[29] The combination of CMs and herbal remedies, in particular, as a subsection of IM, has demonstrated better therapeutic performance and safety than conventional treatments in various conditions, including coronavirus disease 2019, cancer, stroke, chronic pruritus, and rheumatoid arthritis. [21,25,[30][31][32][33][34] Based on several previous studies related to this topic, it can be hypothesized that IM potentially improves the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) and clinical symptoms and reduce AEs associated with CMs in patients with psoriasis. [35][36][37][38][39] Based on previous study knowledge and awareness, the authors set the following research objectives: Through a systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs), it was confirmed whether IM using EAHM is worth exploring as a useful candidate for inflammatory skin lesions in psoriasis vulgaris, thereby providing information to assist decision-making, and; Additional data analysis of the herbal prescription data collected through this review will lead to hypotheses related to promising candidates for optimal IM for psoriasis vulgaris.…”

“…[29] The combination of CMs and herbal remedies, in particular, as a subsection of IM, has demonstrated better therapeutic performance and safety than conventional treatments in various conditions, including coronavirus disease 2019, cancer, stroke, chronic pruritus, and rheumatoid arthritis. [21,25,30–34] Based on several previous studies related to this topic, it can be hypothesized that IM potentially improves the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) and clinical symptoms and reduce AEs associated with CMs in patients with psoriasis. [35–39]…”

Efficacy and Key Materials of East Asian Herbal Medicine Combined with Conventional Medicine on Inflammatory Skin Lesion in Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris: A Meta-Analysis, Integrated Data Mining, and Network Pharmacology

“…EAHM is significantly different from natural resources in other parts of the world as many similar medicinal plants are commonly listed in the pharmacopeia of East Asian countries [ 24 , 32 , 35 ]. At the same time, integrative medicine (IM) studies of chronic disease management are often conducted in countries with a history of medicinal herb use [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. IM is a comprehensive strategy that uses both complementary and conventional therapies simultaneously.…”

“…IM is a comprehensive strategy that uses both complementary and conventional therapies simultaneously. As a subset of IM, the combination of CMs and natural products has shown superior therapeutic efficacy and safety compared to standard therapies for a number of ailments, including COVID-19, cancer, stroke, chronic pruritus, and rheumatoid arthritis [ 36 , 40 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Meanwhile, a recent study using a bioinformatics approach reported that the effectiveness of widely used EAHM prescriptions in psoriasis is related to the suppression of oxidative stress and the alleviation of the resulting inflammatory pathology [ 55 ].…”