Traditional Chinese Medicine Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Readmission in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients with Anemia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on the risk of readmission for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with anemia. METHODS: In this study, 893 hospitalized RA patients were followed up by telephone. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using propensity score matching (PSM). The Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the influence of various factors on the risk of readmission for RA patients with anemia. The Kaplan–Meier survival curve was utilized to analyze the effect of TCM intervention time on readmission. RESULTS: The incidence of anemia was 58.08% (471/811) in RA patients. After 1 : 1 PSM, 328 RA patients with anemia and 328 RA patients without anemia were finally included in our study. The readmission rate of anemia patients was higher than that of patients without anemia (P < 0.01). The readmission rate of RA patients with anemia was obviously lower in the TCM group than in the non-TCM group (P < 0.01). The Cox proportional hazards model showed TCM as an independent protective factor as it decreased the risk of readmission by 50% (HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.27–0.94, P=0.03) in RA patients with anemia. In addition, the risk of readmission was dramatically diminished in the high-exposure subgroup (TCM > 12 months) compared with the low-exposure subgroup (TCM ≤ 12 months) (log-rank P=0.016). CONCLUSION: TCM, as a protective factor, is associated with a reduced risk of readmission in RA patients with anemia.