Herbal remedies and complementary medicine may benefit chronic pruritus patients: Study

Iran: A new database review cited in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology conveys that herbal remedies and complementary medicine may have a good therapeutic response in the treatment of chronic pruritus.

Despite being one of the most common dermatologic conditions, the etiology of chronic pruritis is a mystery. Owing to this, conventional medication may not always be helpful, and so some investigators and patients use herbal and complementary remedies for treatment. However, limited data exist regarding the effectiveness of these treatments

For the present study, an investigative team led by Mohammad Mahdi Parvizi, the Molecular Dermatology Research Center of Shahid Faghihi Hospital, reviewed clinical trials where herbal and complementary medicine were used for the treatment of chronic pruritus.

Investigators reviewed study-related articles published between 2000 and 2020. Using keywords like complementary medicine, herbal remedy, traditional medicine, natural remedy, and herbal drug, eligible articles were combed through PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SID, and Megiran databases.

Details regarding population, sample size, study duration, and the tools used to evaluate the outcomes of the study, results and probable side effects of featured products were procured.

The findings showed that,

• 17 clinical trials met the inclusion criteria of the study, of which 11 articles were related to the efficacy of herbal remedies while 6 articles evaluated the efficacy of manual therapies in the treatment of chronic pruritus.

• Herbal remedies include turmeric, Fumaria parviflora, Avena sativa, capsaicin, sweet almond oil, peppermint oil, violet oil, and vinegar, as well as manual therapies including aromatherapy, auricular acupressure, and acupuncture, were significantly effective in the treatment of chronic pruritus.

• Some studies showed deduction in pruritus in both the control and placebo groups and the effect of complementary and alternative remedies was more effective in comparison with the control groups.

The authors noted that they faced a few limitations like high cost of treatment, small sample size, a lack of control groups, and a lack of proper randomization and blindness during the study.

There are very few studies published showing promising results on the therapeutic efficacy of herbal remedies and complementary medicine in the treatment of chronic pruritus. "Therefore, it is recommended that future studies in this domain should be conducted with adequate sample sizes, appropriate randomization, and blindness methods, and use of astandardized herbal product, in order to increase credible data for future systematic reviews and meta-analyses on this subject," the team concluded.

Reference: Mohammad Mahdi Parvizi,Mohammad Hossein Salami,Arezoo Moini Jazani,Rojan Javaheri,Amir Mohammad Jaladat,Farhad Handjani. First published: 17 May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.15094