The Role of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Managing Common Health Conditions Among Young People: Insights from Clinical Trials

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a well-known and a commonly used approach in medical practice most common in Asian countries, however it is increasingly used in other regions in the world. The usage of it is less well characterised in young population. The purpose of this article will be to synthesise evidence of clinical trials in which treated population is young population aged between 12-25 years old. Highlighted will be the outcome of the clinical trials, intervention used, targeted condition that was treated In the clinical trials and the methodology of the clinical trial. The searches were conducted in commonly used databases like PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and the China National Knowledge infrastructure for clinical trials performed in the last 25 years from year of 2000 to 2025. Included studies were only studies in which the targeted population is in ages between 12-25 years and the treatment in the clinical trial Is related to Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as Acupuncture, herbal medicine, moxibustion, etc. The found result will show that most of the conditions treated with Traditional Chinese Medicine are related to skin disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia and anxiety. In most of the cases, the most used interventions are Acupuncture and form of Herbal Medicine. The results will also show that there is improvement of moderate symptoms of the diseases and low number of adverse events. In conclusion the research is showing that interventions with Traditional Chinese Medicine can be beneficial in treatment of some form of the diseases in young population aged 12-25 years.

Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Young, Young Adults, Clinical Trials, Acupuncture, Complementary Therapy