Abstract:
Introduction Many traditional preparations with varying
combinations of herbs have been used for over 1500
years to treat upper respiratory ailments, and reduce
their incidence and severity. Link Samahan® is a
formulation containing the extract of 14 such medicinal
plants.
Objectives To test the efficacy of Link Samahan® in
reducing the incidence and severity of upper respiratory
symptoms in consenting healthy volunteers.
Setting MAS Linea Aqua, a factory with over 3000
employees, having its own health care centre with a
qualified matron and visiting medical officers.
Methods 956 healthy volunteers took daily either one
sachet of Link Samahan® in hot water (test group,
n=465, mean age 29.5 ± 7.7 years, women 418) or only
plain tea (control group n=491, mean age 29.7 ± 7.9,
women 448), for 84 consecutive days, and recorded
the incidence and severity of 15 upper respiratory
symptoms daily in a purpose-designed form.
Results At the end of 84 days, when compared to the
control group, the average incidence of symptoms in
the test group showed highly significant reductions at
p<0.001 for 6 symptoms and at p<0.005 for 3 symptoms,
and at p<0.05 for the remaining 6. Reduction of average
incidence over time also was highly significant
(p<0.001) for 2 symptoms and (p<0.005) for 7, and
significant (p<0.05) for 4 symptoms, but only marginal
for the balance 2. Severity was significantly reduced
(p<0.05) for 7 symptoms, and reduced also for the other
8 according to descriptive analysis, though not
significant at the 5% level.
Conclusions The results indicate that Link Samahan®
taken as one sachet daily significantly reduces average
incidence, incidence over time, and severity of 15 upper
respiratory symptoms in healthy adults
