Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34243796›Full record

ArticleAllergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology2021

Improvement of skin lesions in corticosteroid withdrawal-associated severe eczema by multicomponent traditional Chinese medicine therapy.

Serife Uzun, Zixi Wang, Tory A McKnight, Paul Ehrlich, Erin Thanik, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, Nan Yang, Xiu-Min Li

Open access · goldAbstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in Allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Traditional Chinese Medicine for Pediatric Allergic Diseases.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2025
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Serife UzunNew York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic, Old Westbury, NY, 11545, USA.
Zixi WangDepartment of Allergy, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, 100730, China.
Tory A McKnightDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, New York Medicine College, 40 Sunshine Cottage Rd, Valhalla, NY, 10595, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0239-3034
Paul EhrlichDepartment of Pediatrics, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Erin ThanikDepartment of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Anna Nowak-WegrzynDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, New York Medicine College, 40 Sunshine Cottage Rd, Valhalla, NY, 10595, USA.
Nan YangDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, New York Medicine College, 40 Sunshine Cottage Rd, Valhalla, NY, 10595, USA.
Xiu-Min LiDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, New York Medicine College, 40 Sunshine Cottage Rd, Valhalla, NY, 10595, USA. Xiu-Min_Li@NYMC.edu.
New York Medical College · USIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · USNew York Institute of Technology · USNYU Langone Health · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

rationaleWe recently showed that multicomponent traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy had steroid-sparing effects in moderate-to-severe eczema. We sought to evaluate TCM effects in severe eczema in a 7-year-old male with refractory disease and corticosteroid withdrawal syndrome.

methodsPrior to referral, the patient had been treated since infancy with increasingly intensive standard of care, including high-dose topical and systemic corticosteroid and antibiotic therapy and was unable to tolerate further steroid treatment. The patient was administered a combination of oral and topical TCM for 17 months following discontinuation of his steroid regimen. His overall medical condition was assessed by SCORAD criteria and laboratory evaluations of serum IgE, absolute eosinophil count, and liver and kidney function tests.

resultsThe patient showed rapid improvement of clinical measures of disease after starting TCM therapy, with marked improvement of sleep quality within the first week, complete resolution of itching, oozing, and erythema at 2 weeks, and a 79% and 99% decrease in his SCORAD values after one month and 3-6 months of TCM, respectively. Serum total IgE decreased by 75% (from 19,000 to 4630 (kIU/L), and absolute eosinophil counts decreased by 60% (from 1000 to 427 cells/μL) after 12 months of treatment. The patient did not require oral or topical steroids during the 17-month trial of TCM. TCM was tapered without complications. His dermatologic manifestations continued to be well-controlled 3 months after discontinuation.

conclusionThis case study suggests TCM should be further evaluated in controlled clinical studies of patients with severe, refractory eczema and steroid withdrawal syndrome.

Indexed as

Corticosteroid withdrawal syndromeEosinophilIgESevere eczemaTraditional Chinese Medicine

Identifiers

PMID34243796
PMCPMC8268267
OpenAlexW3178844041

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.