Methods A total of 116 cases of cough variant asthma were taken as the research objects who received treatment in our hospital from September 2016 to September 2017. They were divided into a control group (n=58) and a research group (n=58) by the Random Number Table. The patients in the control group were given Western medicine treatment, and the patients in the research group were given Huagai powder combined with Erchen decoction for traditional Chinese medicine treatment. The changes of serum eosinophil count, IgE and ECP levels were compared before and after treatment between the two groups. The variation rates of the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and the peak expiratory flow (PEF) before and after treatment were detected, the curative effects of the two groups were evaluated, and the adverse drug reactions of the patients during the treatment were also observed.
Results Before treatment, there was no significant difference in serum eosinophil counts, IgE, ECP, FEV1 and PEF variation rates between the two groups (t=0.196, 0.625, 0.248, 0.536, 0.313, respectively; P=0.703, 0.371, 0.652, 0.451, 0.672, respectively, >0.05). After treatment, the eosinophil counts, IgE, ECP and PEF mutation rates in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment, and FEV1 increased significantly compared with those before treatment (t=5.026, 8.514, 7.932, 6.047, respectively; P=0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, respectively, <0.05). The serum eosinophil count, IgE and ECP levels in the research group were significantly lower than those of the control group, while the FEV1 was significantly higher than that of the control group (t=2.916, 4.153, 2.896, 2.854, respectively; P=0.007, 0.000, 0.014, 0.031, respectively, <0.05). The total effective rate of cough variant asthma in the research group (93.10%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (79.31%, χ2=4.640, P=0.031<0.05). During the treatment, the total incidence of adverse drug reactions (8.62%) in the research group was not statistically significant (10.34%, χ2=0.425, P=0.514>0.05).
Conclusion Compared with Western medicine, Huagai powder combined with Erchen decoction can effectively inhibit bronchitis and allergic reactions, improve the lung function of the patients with cough variant asthma, improve the curative effect of cough variant bronchial asthma, and do not increase the adverse drug reactions. Therefore, it is worthy of clinical application.