Chinese herbal medicines and chronic kidney disease: a positive outcome in a large patient study in Taiwan

The worth of traditional Chinese herbal medicines for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients remains in debate. Lin et al. used a research database in Taiwan to identify almost 25,000 stage 3–5 newly diagnosed CKD patients who, after diagnosis, did or did not use prescribed Chinese herbal medicines for CKD. Reduced risk of end-stage kidney disease from specific traditional medicines warrants reflection on a CKD therapy resource that is largely ignored by Western medicine.