Herbal Medicines for Cardiovascular Diseases

The global burden of disease has driven a broad shift from communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional causes to noncommunicable diseases. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the most prevalent cause of human morbidity and mortality all over the world [1]. According to the survey by Global Burden of Disease Study, 29.6% of all deaths worldwide were caused by CVDs in 2010 [2]. It is estimated that the number of people that die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke, will increase to more than 24 million by 2030 [3]. Despite progress in molecular medicine and biology and translational scientific efforts on improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies over the past 20 years, CVDs continue to be a major global health problem. The use of herbal medicines, one of the main therapeutic approaches of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), can be tracked back thousands of years ago in the East [4]. Currently, there is a recent resurgence of the use of herbal medicines in popularity among patients in the West and they were consumed by more than 15 million people in the US [5]. With increasing enhancement of people's awareness of self-care and concerning on the inevitable adverse effects of conventional medicine, herbal medicines are favored by people with CVDs all over the world for their unique advantages in preventing and curing diseases, rehabilitation, and health care [6]. There is growing evidence showing that many herbal medicines and their active ingredients contribute to the standard therapy for CVDs, for example, aspirin, digitalis, and reserpine [7]. Despite enormous interests in the medicinal uses by consumers, there is still a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding about their identification, effectiveness, pharmacology, toxicology, and herb-drug interaction to science world [8]. Therefore, the role of herbal medicines in CVDs still needs more scientific and clinical data proving their efficacy and safety. The special issue aims to summarize the current progress of promising herbal medicines and their extractions for various CVDs. Altogether, we gathered 31 papers for publication, out of which 14 papers were accepted. The original research articles and reviews in this issue cover a wide range of topics, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, heart failure, dyslipidemia, and arrhythmia. Five papers addressed the clinical application and the mechanism of herbal medicines in the treatment of coronary heart disease. " A multicentre randomized clinical trial on efficacy and safety of huxin formula in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary …