Integrating Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine into Treatment for Older People

As populations age worldwide, older people increasingly live with multimorbidity, frailty, sarcopenia, cognitive and functional decline, chronic pain, insomnia, and reduced quality of life, a burden that is no longer an individual concern but a growing clinical and public health priority at national and global scale. Older people frequently use traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM), including herbal and traditional medicines, dietary supplements, mind–body practices, and acupuncture, alongside conventional treatments. Although the World Health Organization recognizes TCIM as an important component of health systems, its safe and effective use in older people remains insufficiently characterized. Current evidence is fragmented, with uncertainty surrounding intervention-specific efficacy, adverse effects, mechanisms of action, and herb–drug or supplement–drug interactions, particularly in the context of multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Recent studies have investigated TCIM for frailty, sarcopenia, pain, sleep disturbance, cognitive decline, and cardiometabolic conditions, while pharmacovigilance, real-world data, and computational methods are beginning to clarify safety risks. However, important gaps remain in the quality, comparability, and clinical applicability of evidence on both standalone TCIM interventions and their integration with conventional treatment.This Research Topic aims to consolidate evidence on the efficacy, safety, mechanisms, and clinical integration of TCIM in older people across diverse study designs. It will examine how TCIM may address conditions for which conventional care is incomplete, while also identifying risks associated with concurrent use, including adverse events, treatment interactions, and inappropriate continuation during polypharmacy. The Topic seeks to advance patient-centered and clinically actionable guidance by connecting foundational evidence on individual TCIM approaches with direct evidence on combined treatment, deprescribing, pharmacovigilance, and personalized care. It will also consider how translational, computational, and real-world research can support safer decision-making in integrative geriatric practice.To gather further insights into the safe and effective use of TCIM in older people, this Research Topic welcomes articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Efficacy and safety of herbal and traditional medicines, dietary supplements, mind–body therapies, and acupuncture for frailty, sarcopenia, cognitive decline, insomnia, pain, and cardiometabolic conditionso Herb–drug and supplement–drug interactions in the context of multimorbidity and polypharmacyo Adverse-event reporting, pharmacovigilance signal detection, and medication safety monitoringo Pharmacokinetic and physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling of TCIM–drug interactionso Deprescribing, treatment optimization, and shared decision-making involving TCIMo Effectiveness and safety of TCIM integrated into conventional geriatric treatmento Mechanistic and translational studies with clear relevance to aging and clinical careo Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of standalone or combination interventionso National surveys and real-world data analyses focused on clinical outcomes, treatment safety, and healthcare useo Artificial intelligence for interaction prediction, risk stratification, treatment personalization, and clinical decision supporto Comparative effectiveness, implementation, and health-services research on integrative geriatric care Topic editors: Soo-Hyun Sung, Young Woo Kim, SP Li Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84989/integrating-traditional-complementary-and-integrative-medicine-into-treatment-for-older-people