Open AccessTraditional Chinese medicine for pressure ulcer: a meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Zhang QinHong,
Sun ZhongRen,
Yue JinHuan,
Ren Xue,
Qiu LiBo,
Lv XiaoLin,
Du Wei
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international wound journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1742-481X
pISSN - 1742-4801
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-481x.2012.00969.x
Subject(s) - medicine , meta analysis , moxibustion , funnel plot , relative risk , acupuncture , confidence interval , publication bias , medline , randomized controlled trial , traditional medicine , physical therapy , alternative medicine , pathology , political science , law
To assess the effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) [Chinese herbal medicine ointment (CHMO), acupuncture and moxibustion] on pressure ulcer. In this study, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTER, CBM, CNKI, WAN FANG and VIP for articles published from database inception up to 4 April 2011. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which compared the effects of TCM with other interventions. We assessed the methodological quality of these trials using Cochrane risk of bias criteria. Ten of 565 potentially relevant trails that enrolled a total of 893 patients met our inclusion criteria. All the included RCTs only used CHMO intervention, because acupuncture and moxibustion trials failed to meet the inclusive criteria. A meta‐analysis showed beneficial effects of CHMO for pressure ulcer compared with other treatments on the total effective rate [risk ratio (RR): 1·28; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1·20–1·36; P = 0·53; I 2 = 0%), curative ratio (RR: 2·02; 95% CI: 1·73–2·35; P = 0·11; I 2 = 37%) and inefficiency rate (RR: 0·16; 95% CI: 0·02–0·80; P = 0·84; I 2 = 0%). However, the funnel plot indicated that there was publication bias in this study. The evidence that CHMO is effective for pressure ulcer is encouraging, but due to several caveats, not conclusive. Therefore, more rigorous studies seem warranted.