Background and Purpose. Traditional medicine (TM) has been widely used in China (including the Taiwan region), Korea, and Japan. The purposes of this paper are to summarize the basic data on TM systems in these three countries and to compare them in terms of overall policy, education, and insurance. Methods. Government websites, national statistics, and authoritative papers from each country were fully searched. Further data were gathered by TM experts from each country. Results. China and Korea showed similar patterns in TM systems, whereas Japan showed different patterns. In China and Korea, TM was practiced in a dual system with conventional medicine (CM), and TM education was 6-year training programs on average for TM doctors, and acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping were completely insured. Whereas, CM was dominant in Japan, and TM was practiced by each health care worker who has received different TM education respectively, and main TM therapies were partially insured. Conclusions. TM was developed similarly or somewhat differently based on differences in cultural background and national policies in East Asia. We cautiously propose that this study could contribute to the development of TM and also be used for reference in complementary and alternative medicine systems.

The result of our systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that the effectiveness of SA for PD is promising, however, the evidence is not convincing. A sham-controlled RCT design that adheres to the CONSORT and STRICTA guidelines to overcome methodological weakness and that includes a large sample size is strongly recommended to confirm the precise effect of SA on PD.