The American journal of Chinese medicine
-
Meta Analysis
Chinese Medicine for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A GRADE-Assessed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused enormous public health and socioeconomic burden globally. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicine (CM) against COVID-19. Eleven databases were searched on April 30, 2021, and 52 studies were included. ⋯ Adjunctive effects of CM with lower certainty of evidence were found, including the improvements of symptoms, laboratory findings, and mortality. No or mild adverse events were observed in most of the studies. In conclusion, the current evidence indicates that CM formulae, particularly LHQW, QFPD, and FYYH, have adjunctive effects on the standard treatment of COVID-19.
-
Influenza is a sudden and serious viral breathing and lung-related infectious disease that causes significant deadliness and death worldwide. Now, the international treatment is oseltamivir. Chinese patent medicine (CPM) as a kind of different therapy is used in the treatment of influenza in China. ⋯ Related to safety [RR = 0.69, 95% CI (0.38, 1.23), P = 0.21], the experimental group had fewer adverse reactions than the control group, but there is no statistical significance. The findings show that CPM combined with oseltamivir in adult influenza has a better efficacy in shortening the time of defervescence and symptom improvement, reducing the time of hospitalization. However, publication bias is inevitable due to the low methodological quality check of the clinical research about diagnostic criteria, definition of adult influenza, and small number of articles, and further large sample sizes and multi-center clinical trials are needed to give better proof for its efficacy and safety.
-
Pain is the most frequently encountered symptom by patients with fibromyalgia (FM). Dietary supplements (DSs) in particular have a proven impact as a possible adjunctive therapy for symptom management in FM. However, there is currently no conclusive review outlining the evidence for DSs in pain management in FM. ⋯ Adverse events of DSs varied from mild to severe, with the most common being gastrointestinal symptoms and androgenic side effects in 5.7% and 3.9% of patients, respectively. More well-designed RCTs are required in the future. The protocol for this review has been published on PROSPERO (CRD42020149941).
-
The efficacy and safety of Shengmai preparation combined with Western medicine (SMP-WM) to treat coronary heart disease (CHD) were reviewed. Twenty-five randomized controlled trials of SMP-WM treatment for CHD were retrieved from seven databases and other trial sources between their inception and April 10, 2021. The risk of bias domains was accessed by Cochrane Collaboration's tool, and the data were statistically analyzed using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 12.0 software. ⋯ The combination also improved hemorheology by reducing whole blood viscosity (SMD = -1.59, 95% CI: -2.32 - -0.85, [Formula: see text] < 0.01), plasma viscosity (SMD = -0.65, 95% CI: -0.86 - -0.45, [Formula: see text] < 0.01), and fibrinogen (SMD = -4.21, 95% CI: -4.58 - -3.83, [Formula: see text] < 0.01). The SMP-WM combination favorably impacts cardiovascular events, angina symptoms, endothelial function, platelet aggregation, and blood viscosity, with comparable safety to that of routine Western medicine. Further investigation is required to enhance the strength of the evidence.
-
Meta Analysis
Efficacy and Safety of Chinese Medicine for COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine for COVID-19 treatment with a focus on the benefits of symptomatic relief and time-related indexes. Seven electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chongqing VIP, Wanfang Data, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry) were systematically searched from their beginning to April 2021. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing patients using Western therapy (WT) alone and those using additional Chinese medicine (WT [Formula: see text] CM) were included. ⋯ WT [Formula: see text] CM significantly improved overall efficacy (risk ratio, RR [Formula: see text] 1.21; 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.30; [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.01) and lung recovery (RR [Formula: see text] 1.30; 95% CI:1.19 to 1.42; [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.01) and shortened the time to viral assay conversion (weighted mean differences, WMD [Formula: see text]1.38; 95% CI: -1.98 to -0.78; [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.01) and duration of chest distress (WMD [Formula: see text] 2.41; 95% CI: -2.99 to -1.83; [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.01) compared to WT alone. There was no difference in safety between the WT [Formula: see text] CM and WT groups (RR [Formula: see text] 0.94; 95% CI: 0.64 to 1.39; [Formula: see text] 0.76). In conclusion, the synthesized evidence from 15 RCTs showed that additional Chinese medication may improve treatment efficacy, relieve symptoms, promote lung recovery, and reduce the inflammatory response against COVID-19, while not increasing the risk of adverse events compared with conventional Western medication alone.