With increasing awareness of Ayurveda, people with chronic diseases are seen resorting to it after failing to get relief from modern medicine. Nearly 76% of them vouch for partial or complete relief from the disease or disorder.
This is as per India's first big data analysis on the ancient medical system.
According to a study conducted by Jiva Ayurveda and Oxynet Medical Private Limited, Delhi, from I 07,000 patients, peoplechooseAyurveda help for diseases like those connected with the digestive system, endocrine (diabetes/obesity/
thyroid disorder), skeletal (mostly women) skin, respiratory and nervous system disorders.
More than 80% of the patients who opted for Ayurveda treatments suffered from chronic diseases for more than one year. Even with mostly chronic diseases, the effectiveness of the treatment was obtained in more than 75% of the cases. Only in 0.9% cases, the condition aggravates.
"Ayurveda has little scientific documentation and no big data analysis. Our study for the first time show interesting patterns and proves its potential for use in preventive healthcare,"
team member Samir K Brahmachari, one of the prominent Indian biologists and former di rector general of Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research.
For the analysis, researchers from CSIR and All India Institute of Medical Sciences joined hands with doctors at Faridabadbased company Jiva Ayurveda and Oxynet Medical Private Limited, Delhi. From nearly 380,000 patients who
accessed the tele-medicine network and visited the clinics, about I 07,000 data was chosen for the analysis. "To define the treatment efficacy, we have IO parameters. Also, regular tests are carried our before and after the treatment," said Pratap Chauhan, another team member and one of the senior researchers at Jiva.
"The study shows if people come early for Ayurveda treatment, they would get better relief. We also have standardised diagnostic protocols for 25 diseases," Chauhan said. "Ayurveda's popularity is mostly through word of mouth. There is no systematic study to tell us what kind of people seek treatment for what kind of diseases. The big data analysis can provide an unbiased look into the trend," commented Micali Mukherjee, a se.nior scientist at the Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrated Biology, who was not di rectly involved in the study.