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Background: Traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine have coexisted since 1958 in Taiwan. Integrative traditional Chinese and western medicine (TC&WM) remains to be studied and promoted. In response to the documentary report of WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005, the present study was planned and carried out.Methods: During 2004-2008, 19 integrative TC&WM dialogue forums were held, in which 219 TC&WM scholars and professionals participated by invitation. The proceedings of the forums in Chinese were published. A study team was organized in 2009 to collect the consensus opinions, utilizing a Delphi method. The opinions collected were discussed in an international TC&WM forum held on November 1, 2014.Results: The opinions of TC&WM experts and professionals on the integrative issues and values were quite divergent. Of the 39 integrative issues, 34 (87.8%) reached consensus, agreeing that WM is excellent in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases/disorders, yet is still evolving, and not perfect without defects. TCM is patient-centered, wellness-oriented, inadequate for acute, critical and life-threatening diseases, but has a complementary and alternative role to WM. Of the 44 diseases/disorders, 36 (81.8%) reached consensus, worthy for integrative clinical use or trials.Conclusions: Integrative TC&WM, combining the best features of two systems, could be a most useful and advanced healthcare medicine in the future, requiring development of regulations and guidelines for the use of TCM and more rigorous efforts have to be made in clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of early-onset methamphetamine (MAMP) use in early adolescence with psychiatric morbidity in adolescents with MAMP use by gender. A total of 299 adolescents with MAMP use in Taiwan were recruited from two juvenile detention centers in Kaohsiung and Taipei from September 1998 to March 2002. Using the Kiddie epidemiological version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS-E), each adolescent was interviewed by a child psychiatrist to determine what psychiatric conditions, including substance use disorders (SUDs) and other psychiatric comorbidities might be associated with the early-onset (15 years old or below) MAMP use according to gender. In females, early-onset MAMP use was significantly associated with the diagnoses of depressive disorder, conduct disorder and amphetamine use disorder. In males, however, early-onset MAMP use was only significantly associated with amphetamine use disorder. Gender differences exist in the association between early-onset MAMP use and psychiatric morbidity. The association between early-onset MAMP use and psychiatric morbidity may have important implications for public health policy and treatment for adolescents with MAMP use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]