Efficacy of Restricting Dietary Protein Intake Combined with Buyang Huanwu Decoction in Treating Diabetic Nephropathy and Its Effect on Patients' Inflammatory Factor Levels

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of restricting dietary protein intake combined with Buyang Huanwu decoction in treating diabetic nephropathy (DN) and its effect on patients' inflammatory factor levels. METHODS: The medical data of 150 DN patients treated in Wuhan No.1 Hospital (June 2018—May 2021) were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received regular therapy, those who received the intervention of restricting dietary protein intake were included in the control group (n = 75), and on this basis, those treated with Buyang Huanwu decoction were included in the experimental group (n = 75), so as to scientifically evaluate their efficacy and inflammatory factor levels after treatment. RESULTS: The patients' general information was not statistically different between the two groups (P > 0.05); after treatment, the experimental group gained remarkably higher marked effective rate and total effective rate of treatment than the control group (P < 0.05); the inflammatory factor levels of all patients were obviously better than before (P < 0.05), and the levels of TNF-α, IL-2, IL-8, IL-4, and IL-10 were obviously lower in the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.05); the levels of fasting blood glucose, 2 h postprandial blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin of all patients were remarkably lower than before (P < 0.05), but with no significant between-group difference (P > 0.05); the renal function indexes of all patients were better than before, and between the two groups, the levels of 24 h microalbuminuria, 24 h urine protein excretion, and serum creatinine were obviously lower and the glomerular filtration rate was significantly higher in the experimental group (P all <0.05), and the patients' traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) symptom scores were remarkably lower in the experimental group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Jointly applying Buyang Huanwu decoction on the basis of restricting dietary protein intake can effectively promote the clinical efficacy of DN, which is conducive to adjusting the inflammatory factor levels, promoting the patients' renal function, and alleviating the clinical symptoms.