The Study
Short-Term Efficacy and Safety of Haizao Yuhu Decoction Plus Methimazole versus Methimazole Monotherapy for Graves’ Disease: A Prospective Study Using Propensity Score-Matching
This study watched two groups of people taking different medicines and noticed that one group felt better faster and had fewer side effects. But the patients picked their own medicine, so we don’t know if the herbal tea really caused the improvement — maybe those people were just healthier to begin with. So we can only say the two things happened together, not that one made the other happen.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Doctors gave some Graves' disease patients a traditional Chinese herbal tea along with their thyroid medicine, and others got only the medicine.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 564 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — patients felt better, had fewer liver and blood problems, and needed less strong medicine, which could mean fewer hospital visits and safer treatment.
- 2The tea+medicine group lowered thyroid hormones faster (FT4 down 16.67 vs 9.82 pmol/L), needed 19% less medicine (814 mg vs 1007 mg), and had fewer side effects (5.6% vs 18.5%).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
International Journal of General Medicine
Year
2026
Authors
Wenbin Huang, Fengyun Cheng, Xiaoju Liu, Xingjia Li, Sicong Zhou, Rong Lin, Fenxia Zhu, Xiao-dong Mao, Chao Liu, Shuhang Xu
Related Content
Claims (6)
Anti-thyroid medications lower the amount of thyroid hormones produced by the thyroid gland.
In adults with Graves' disease, combining Haizao Yuhu Decoction with methimazole results in fewer adverse events (5.56% vs 18.52%) over 12 weeks than methimazole alone, with lower rates of liver injury and leukopenia.
Adults with Graves' disease who take Haizao Yuhu Decoction along with methimazole report better quality of life and fewer symptoms after 12 weeks than those who take methimazole alone.
In adults with Graves' disease, combining Haizao Yuhu Decoction with methimazole results in a larger decrease in blood flow speed in the thyroid artery after 12 weeks than methimazole alone.
In adults with Graves' disease, taking Haizao Yuhu Decoction along with methimazole results in a larger decrease in free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine levels after 4 weeks than taking methimazole alone, with measured median differences of 16.67 pmol/L versus 9.82 pmol/L for FT4 and 5.32 pmol/L versus 3.46 pmol/L for FT3.
Adults with Graves' disease who take Haizao Yuhu Decoction along with methimazole receive a 19% lower total dose of methimazole over 12 weeks than those who take methimazole alone, with median doses of 814 mg versus 1007 mg.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.