Wang W, Li H, Liu YP, Chen Y, Zhang XR, Wang YZ, Tian YZ. Clinical efficacy of Xifeng Huashi and its effect on mental status in patients with diarrheal irritable bowel. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(2): 113123 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.113123]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yao-Zhou Tian, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 100 Cross Street, Maigaoqiao Sub-district, Qixia District, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China. tianyaozhou1960@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Feb 19, 2026 (publication date) through Feb 2, 2026
Times Cited of This Article
Times Cited (0)
Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Psychiatry
ISSN
2220-3206
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
Wang W, Li H, Liu YP, Chen Y, Zhang XR, Wang YZ, Tian YZ. Clinical efficacy of Xifeng Huashi and its effect on mental status in patients with diarrheal irritable bowel. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(2): 113123 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.113123]
Wei Wang, Hui Li, Yao-Zhou Tian, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Wei Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, Wujin Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Changzhou 213002, Jiangsu Province, China
Yu-Ping Liu, Yan Chen, Xiao-Ran Zhang, Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Molecules and Microecology, Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Yan-Zhou Wang, Department of Psychiatry, Wujin Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Changzhou 213002, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Wei Wang and Hui Li.
Author contributions: Wang W, Li H and Tian YZ designed the research study, drafted the manuscript, analyzed and interpreted the results; Liu YP, Chen Y, Zhang XR, Wang YZ and Tian YZ collected the data, prepared all the tables & figures, reviewed and edited the manuscript; all authors give final approval of the version to be published; all authors have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to its accuracy or integrity.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at Yao-Zhou Tian tianyaozhou1960@163.com. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yao-Zhou Tian, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 100 Cross Street, Maigaoqiao Sub-district, Qixia District, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China. tianyaozhou1960@163.com
Received: September 9, 2025 Revised: October 11, 2025 Accepted: November 10, 2025 Published online: February 19, 2026 Processing time: 142 Days and 22.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Diarrheal irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain accompanied by recurrent diarrhea that significantly impacts the quality of life and mental health of patients.
AIM
To investigate the clinical efficacy of Xifeng Huashi and its effects on the mental status of patients diagnosed with IBS-D.
METHODS
Data from 128 patients with IBS-D treated at the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine between June 2023 and May 2024 were divided into control and research groups, with 64 patients in each group. The control group received conventional treatment with Western medicine alone, whereas the research group was prescribed Xifeng Huashi. Differences in specific indices between the two groups were observed and compared using relevant assessment tools.
RESULTS
The research group showed a higher total effective rate (92.19% vs 76.56%; P = 0.027) and lower traditional Chinese medicine symptom score (5.07 ± 3.11 vs 7.38 ± 3.68; P < 0.001) than the control group. Post-treatment, the research group exhibited significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α: 18.80 ± 4.02 ng/L vs 21.09 ± 4.10 ng/L, P = 0.002; interleukin-6:14.84 ± 4.06 ng/L vs 19.80 ± 4.42 ng/L, P < 0.001) and higher levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (48.53 ± 5.02 ng/L vs 46.06 ± 4.94 ng/L, P = 0.006). Moreover, markers of intestinal mucosal barrier function (diamine oxidase: 6.53 ± 2.35 ng/mL vs 7.66 ± 2.40 ng/mL, P = 0.008; D-lactate: 0.18 ± 0.04 mmol/L vs 0.20 ± 0.06 mmol/L, P = 0.004; lipopolysaccharides: 44.77 ± 8.16 pg/mL vs 48.20 ± 8.15 pg/mL, P = 0.019) were significantly improved in the research group. In addition, Self-rating Anxiety Scale (37.33 ± 5.73 vs 39.59 ± 6.36; P = 0.036) and Self-rating Depression Scale scores (34.77 ± 6.71 vs 38.06 ± 6.52; P = 0.006) were lower in the research group. The recurrence rate was significantly lower in the research group than in the control group (18.64% vs 40.82%, P = 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Xifeng Huashi is effective for the treatment of IBS-D and manifests advantages in improving clinical symptoms and mental status, as well as reducing the short-term relapse rate.
Core Tip: Diarrheal irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) significantly affects the quality of life and psychological health of patients. This study investigated the clinical efficacy of Xifeng Huashi and its effects on the mental status of patients with IBS-D. Xifeng Huashi is effective for the treatment of IBS-D and manifests advantages in improving clinical symptoms and mental status, as well as reducing the short-term relapse rate.
