Chinese Patent Medicines for Cervical Spondylosis: A Comprehensive Review and Current Status of Clinical Research

Abstract: In this study, an overview review method was employed to systematically categorize proprietary Chinese patent medicines (CPM) for cervical spondylosis listed in the national authoritative drug catalogues and assess their current clinical research status. Literature management and data extraction were performed by searching the databases (updated until January 26, 2025) using EndNote and Excel, and the results were presented visually. A total of 31 proprietary CPMs were included in the study, with activation of blood circulation and removal of blood stasis being the most common therapeutic effects. Involving 112 medicinal ingredients, Pueraria lobata Radix is the most commonly used Chinese medicine ingredient. A total of 130 articles were screened from the literature, with the highest number of studies focusing on Jingtong granules (tablets) (24.62%). The number of studies peaked in 2023, with 77.69% of the studies being randomized controlled trials. Among these, 126 were clinical trial studies, with a maximum sample size of 528 participants. The most common intervention regimen involved CPM combined with western medicines versus western medicines alone (17.46%). The intervention duration was 4 weeks (25.40%), with the main outcome measure being the “Total Effective Rate (TER)” (86.51%). This study demonstrates that CPM has strong potential for treating cervical spondylosis. However, issues remain, such as incomplete information in some drug instructions and the lack of standardization in clinical studies, which require further improvement. Keywords: cervical spondylosis, chinese patent medicines, clinical research, scoping review, rational use of drugs