Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula combined with atomoxetine and biofeedback therapy of school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Wanyan Yao¹, Jing Cai², Guanjun Liang², Mingding Li², Min Su¹

¹Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Dushu Lake Hospital affiliated to Soochow University, Suzhou, China; ²Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.

For correspondence:- Min Su Email: sm1599571@163.com

Accepted: 31 August 2023 Published: 30 September 2023

Citation: Yao W, Cai J, Liang G, Li M, Su M. Effect of Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula combined with atomoxetine and biofeedback therapy of school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(9):1937-1944 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i9.23

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula combined with atomoxetine and biofeedback therapy on the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham-IV Rating Scale (SNAP-IV) score as well as Clinical Global Impression (CGI) score of school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods: Clinical data of 85 school-age children with ADHD who were admitted to Dushu Lake Hospital from April 2019 to June 2022 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients treated with biofeedback therapy and atomoxetine for 1 month were defined as control group (n = 42), while those treated with Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula in addition to what was given control group were defined as study group (n = 43). Efficacy, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) symptom scores, SNAP-IV score, CGI score and cerebral electrophysiological indices were compared between the groups. The scores of the main and secondary syndromes were also compared between two groups.

Results: Treatment response rate in study group was significantly higher than in control group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in scores of the main syndromes and secondary syndromes, SNAP-IV score or CGI score between the two groups before treatment (p > 0.05). However, scores of the two groups decreased significantly after treatment, and study group had significantly lower scores than control group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) waves, β waves, or θ waves between the two groups before and after treatment (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula plus atomoxetine plus biofeedback therapy improves ADHD symptoms more than biofeedback therapy and atomoxetine combination as shown by the reduction in TCM, SNAP-IV and CGI scores. However, investigations will need to be carried out using a larger sample size in order to validate these findings.

Keywords: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tiaoxie Yizhi Formula, Biofeedback therapy, Swanson, Nolan, Pelham-IV rating scale