Premium
Meta‐analysis of clinical trials on traditional Chinese herbal medicine for treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis
Author(s) -
Wang Shijun,
Tang Qiaofei,
Qian Wei,
Fan Yu
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2012.02806.x
Subject(s) - medicine , traditional chinese medicine , clinical trial , traditional medicine , alternative medicine , dermatology , allergy , intensive care medicine , immunology , pathology
Background Chinese herbal medicine ( CHM ) has been used for the prevention and treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis ( PAR ), but results are still equivocal. This study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of CHM in patients with PAR . Materials and methods Databases searched included articles published in the Cochrane library, MEDLINE , EMBASE , China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang database from 1999 to 2011. The studies included were randomized controlled trials ( RCT s) comparing CHM to placebo if they included patients with PAR . The main outcomes were the changes in the standardized mean difference ( SMD ) of nasal symptom scores and total serum IgE level. Methodological quality was assessed by the modified Jadad's scale. Results Seven RCT s with 533 patients were identified and analyzed. In the meta‐analysis, CHM reduced the total nasal symptom scores compared to placebo ( SMD , −1.82; 95% confidence interval [ CI ], −3.03 to −0.62; P = 0.003). The effect estimate was in favor of the CHM intervention ( SMD , −1.09; 95% CI , −2.74 to 0.55 ) in reducing the total serum IgE level, although this was not significant ( P = 0.19). Conclusions CHM interventions appear to have beneficial effects in patients with PAR . However, the published efficacy studies are too small to draw firm conclusion.