For patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), Integrative Medicine is associated with improved outcomes, decreased incidence of revascularization

• Despite improvements in revascularization procedures, CAD remains a global threat.
• Over the years, the use and popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in terms of improving the prognosis of CAD patients have increased.
• In China, the use of Eastern-Western IM therapy to address CAD is prevalent.
• To evaluate its effectiveness, the researchers selected 1,087 hospitalized CAD patients from four hospitals in Beijing. They assigned these patients into two groups: the IM therapy group, which received CM plus conventional treatment (CT), and the CT group, which received CT alone.
• The researchers considered major adverse cardiac events (MACE), which included cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), and revascularization, as the endpoint.
• A total of 1,040 patients completed the 2-year follow-up; 49.4 percent were in the IM therapy group.
• During the 2-year follow-up, the researchers reported that the total incidence of MACE was 11.3 percent, with most of the events involving revascularization (9.3 percent). Cardiac death and MI occurred in only 3 percent of the cases.
• When the researchers performed logistic stepwise regression analysis, they found that age (over 65 years), MI, diabetes mellitus, multi-vessel lesions, baseline high sensitivity C-reactive protein levels greater than 3 mg/L, and moderate or severe anxiety/depression are negative predictors for revascularization.
• On the other hand, the use of anti-platelet agents, beta-blockers, statins, and IM therapy proved to be protective predictors.
• For cardiac death/MI, age (over 65 years) and heart failure were negative predictors while statin use was a protective predictor. IM therapy showed a beneficial tendency.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that IM therapy can decrease the incidence of revascularization and potentially reduce the incidence of cardiac death or MI in CAD patients in a real-world setting.