ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of ginseng preparations in improving insulin resistance (IR). MethodsWe electronically searched databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMbase, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, and CBM from inception to October 2015, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCT) about ginseng preparations for IR patients. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 17 RCTs involving 1169 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that treatment combined with ginseng preparations group was superior to the control group in levels of HOMA-IR (MD=-0.13, 95%CI -0.24 to -0.01, P=0.03), ISI (MD=0.72, 95%CI 0.25 to 1.19, P=0.003), FPG (MD=-0.90, 95%CI -1.27 to -0.52, P<0.00001), 2hPG (MD=-1.48, 95%CI -2.03 to -0.92, P<0.00001) and HbA1c (MD=-0.73, 95%CI -1.16 to -0.31, P=0.0008). No statistically differences between two groups were found in levels of FPI and F-CP. As for the safety, a total of 9 cases in the ginseng group occurred adverse reactions. Symptoms of adverse reactions included hypoglycemia, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, treatment combined with ginseng preparations could improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood glucose in IR patients with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, the above conclusion need to be verified by more high quality studies.
Objective To conduct a scoping review on the clinical research evidence for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with traditional Chinese medicine, identify relevant problems in the literature, and provide ideas for the follow-up research. Methods PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Digital Journal Full-text Database, and China Biomedical Literature Database were searched from inception to July 21st, 2022. The clinical research evidence for the treatment of COVID-19 with traditional Chinese medicine was included, the data information was sorted out, and the results were descriptively analyzed. Results A total of 132 studies were included, including 53 randomized controlled trials, 17 non-randomized controlled trials, and 62 retrospective cohort studies, all of which were published between 2020 and 2022. The clinical studies were carried out in 19 provincial level regions, among which Hubei province had the largest number of studies (49.2%, 65/132). The sample sizes of the studies were mostly between 50 and 100 cases (43.2%, 57/132). Most of the studies had a treatment course of 0-14 days (50.0%, 66/132). The most compared intervention measures were traditional Chinese medicine + conventional western medicine treatment vs. conventional western medicine treatment, accounting for 75.0% (99/132) of the studies. The COVID-19 patients included in the studies were mainly mild and moderate. Outcome indicators included changes in symptoms/signs, laboratory indicators, CT indicators, clinical outcomes, safety indicators, functional scales, etc. The main adverse reactions/events in intervention/exposure groups were gastrointestinal reactions. Conclusions There has been a lot of clinical research evidence on the treatment of COVID-19 by traditional Chinese medicine. To provide strong evidence support for the treatment of COVID-19 by traditional Chinese medicine, more clinical trials with large samples and international collaboration are needed in the future.
Objective To assess the effect of integrated traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine (ICWM) in the treatment of SARS. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Chinese BioMed Database ( CBM ) , and the Intemet performed handsearching in Chinese journals and reference lists. We included randomised controlled trials and prospective controlled studies of integrated Chinese medicine with western medicine versus western medicine alone in people with SARS. Three independent reviewers collected details of study population, interventions, and outcomes using a data extraction form. We conducted meta-analysis for similar data of studies.Results Nine studies (n =812) were included, all with the possibility of containing serious bias. ICWM in the treatment of SARS was associated with the following reductions: case fatality [ OR 0.32, 95% CI (0.14,0.71 ) ] , fever clearance time [ WMD -1.17, 95% CI ( -1.83, -0.50 ) , symptom remission time [ WMD-1.47, 95% CI ( - 1.96, - 0. 98) ] and the number of inflammation absorption cases [ MD 1.63, 95% CI(0.95, 2.80 ) ], having no significant difference in symptom scores of convalescents [ WMD -1.25, 95% CI ( -2.71, 0.21 ) ], cumulative dose of corticosteroids [ WMD - 236.96, 95% CI ( - 490.64, 16.73) ] and inflammation absorption mean time [ WMD 0.63, 95% CI ( - 1.33, 2.59) ] .Conclusions Due to the methodological limitations of the studies, the effect of ICWM for SARS is unclear. The apparent improvements in cases fatality, fever clearance time, syndromes remission time and numbers of inflammation absorption cases warrant further evaluation with high quality and large scale trials to be expected.
Objective To compare the effectiveness of integrated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with Western medicine and Western medicine alone for acute episodes of withdrawal in alcoholism. Methods According to the criteria of alcohol dependence and acute alcochol withdrawal syndrome of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-Ⅳ) , 62 consecutive patients were divided into two groups: 31 patients with odd numbers were allocated to the treatment group (4 patients were excluded because they left hospital early), 31 patients with even numbers were allocated to the control group. According to the four diagnostic methods of TCM, all patients in the treatment group were further divided into 4 types. The treatment group received valium, tiopronin, transfusion therapy and herbs (potion per day). The control group received the same therapy as the treatment group did but without oral herbs. Results Liver function, especially the difference between before and after treatment of GOT and γ-GT,the treatment group showed more improvement than the control group (P=0.046 and 0.001). The scores of anxiety and depression test, especially the HAMD, the treatment group showed more improvement than the control group (t=3.165, P=0.003). The treatment group used significantly less time than the control group (P=0.01), but no statistically significant difference was seen in the dosage of valium between the two groups (P=0.434). Conclusions The efficacy of integrated TCM with Western medicine is better than Western medicine alone for acute episodes of withdrawal in alcoholism.
Objective To learn the current situation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) systematic reviews/meta-analyses published in Chinese journals. Methods All TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses published from 1978 to July 31, 2009 were searched in the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM). According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, relevant information was extracted on the basis of research purpose. Meanwhile, publication year, journal name, author’s district, number of authors and their articles, types of diseases and interventions were took as the indexes, and then descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software. Results A total of 245 articles including 238 in Chinese and 7 in English were included. All of them were published in 117 different journals from 1998 to 2008, showing an accelerating growth trend of article number. In addition to only one article with first author from Germany, the first author of other 244 were from 24 domestic provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities); the number of authors ranged from 1 to 11; a total of 186 people had published articles as first author, and the number of their published articles ranged from 1 to 29. There were 16 types of diseases according to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10). Totally, 218 articles took drugs as interventions (including 106 listed drugs, 25 self-made prescriptions, 70 related to both listed drugs and self-made prescriptions, and 17 without reporting detailed interventions), accounting for 89%; and 27 articles were about non-drug interventions (including 26 about acupuncture and 1 about massage), accounting for 11%. Most (95.8%) of the articles about self-made prescriptions and listed drugs/self-made prescriptions adopted inappropriate pooled analyses. Conclusion Evidence-based medicine has been spread into the field of TCM, the number of TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses shows an accelerated growth trend. The types of diseases discussed in the literature were almost the same as the diseases those could be effectively treated by TCM, but there existed imbalance in districts. In the future, systematic review/meta-analysis on drug intervention should aim at Chinese patent medicines and single medicines rather than self-made prescriptions, and should pay more attention to advantageous drugs and advantageous treatments of diseases. Moreover, importance should be also attached to clinical heterogeneity controlling when using acupuncture as a non-drug intervention.
Objective To summarize results of the correlation of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) promoter –308A/G polymorphism with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility in Chinese populations. Methods We collected all the publications about the correlation between TNF-α promoter –308A/G polymorphism and SLE in Chinese populations by searching PubMed, EBSCO, CBM, CNKI and Wanfang Data before the date of March 20, 2010. Meta-analysis was performed for checking the difference between two groups about genotypes such as AA versus GG, GA versus GG, AA versus GG+GA, GA+AA versus GG, and A allele versus G allele. Results A total of 8 studies involving 731 SLE patients and 901 healthy people were included. The meta-analysis of total populations showed that, there was no significant correlation between A allele and increased SLE risk (OR=1.42, 95%CI 0.97 to 2.09, P=0.07); the meta-analyses of populations in different regions showed there was no significant correlation of A allele and increased SLE risk in Chinese Taiwan populations (OR=1.04, 95%CI 0.77 to 1.40, P=0.82). Moreover, there was no significant difference between SLE group and control group in the genotypes of AA versus GG, GA versus GG, AA versus GG+GA, and GA+AA versus GG.Conclusion This meta-analysis dosen’t demonstrate the correlation between TNF-α promoter–308A/G polymorphism and SLE in Chinese populations.
Dense breast is an independent risk factor for females with breast cancer, and also one of the important reasons for decreased sensitivity of mammography and increased risk of missed diagnosis. Females with dense breast in China account for a high proportion, making the breast cancer screening a key and difficult point in the prevention and control targeting breast cancer in such population. The formulation of specialized screening expert consensus for dense breast populations is conducive to achieving more accurate early detection, improving screening efficiency, and reasonably allocating medical resources. Committee for Integrative Prevention and Screening of Breast Cancer, China Anti-Cancer Association takes the lead and organizes multi-disciplinary experts to systematically review relevant evidence-based medical evidence domestically and internationally, integrate the actual situation, and clinical experience of China, and conform to setting norms of international guidelines to complete evidence integration and form recommendations, thereby formulating “Expert Consensus on Breast Cancer Screening in Chinese Female with Dense Breast (2025 edition)”. This expert consensus puts forward recommendations on the risk stratification, screening age, screening interval, screening methods, joint screening strategies, and other key issues of females with dense breast, aiming to promote the standardized screening practice of such population, improve the level of early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and provide technical support and implementation basis for the prevention and control of Chinese females with breast cancer.
Evidence-based research in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has made many important achievements and promoted the modernization and internationalization of TCM. The ability to produce research evidence to guide clinical practice in an emergency treatment situation is a major test of the development of evidence-based Chinese medicine (EBCM) when emerging infectious diseases outbreaks. Along with the development of EBCM, TCM has experienced emerging infectious disease events such as atypical pneumonia (SARS), influenza A (HIN1), and corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the ability of TCM to conduct clinical research in emergency treatment work has been continuously improved. This article provides an overview of the clinical research conducted in TCM to resist emerging infectious diseases in the past, focusing on the clinical research results obtained in the present time of COVID-19 rescue and treatment, and discusses the role of EBCM development to enhance the clinical research capacity of TCM in emerging infectious diseases.
Acute pancreatitis is a common and critical disease in clinical practice, and clinical treatment has formed a multidisciplinary and collaborative model of traditional Chinese and Western medicine. However, its etiology and pathogenesis are complex and varied, and immune response is crucial in the occurrence and development of the disease. Therefore, based on the thinking of the pathological and physiological basis of immune response in the different stages of acute pancreatitis disease progression and related complications, and based on the biological characteristics and laws of the disease, this article summarizes a reasonable and phased implementation of Chinese and Western medicine collaborative management strategy, which is proposed to achieve optimal and precise treatment of the disease.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of Chinese medicine injection (CMI) for treating heart failure (HF).MethodsCNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, The Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMbase databases were electronically searched from inception to January 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on CMI for treating HF. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias of included studies. Network meta-analysis was then performed by RevMan 5.2 software and Stata 16.0 software.ResultsA total of 47 studies were included involving 4 902 patients and 5 types of CMIs, including Shenmai, Shenfu, Yiqi Fumai (lyophilized), Shengmai, and Danhong injections. The results of network meta-analysis showed that the efficacy of combined CMIs was superior to conventional Western medicine alone. For the main efficacy, Shenmai, Shengmai, and Shenfu injections had significant advantages in improving the total clinical effectiveness. Shengmai, Shenmai, and Yiqi Fumai (lyophilized) injections were significantly more effective for reducing NT pro-BNP levels than other injections. Shenfu and Shengmai injections were significantly more effective for reducing BNP levels than other injections. Shenmai, Danhong and Shengmai injections were significantly more effective for improving the left ventricular ejection fraction than the other injections. These CMIs showed similar advantages for secondary efficacy indicators as for main efficacy indicators.ConclusionsThe combined 5 types of CMIs for treating HF can improve the clinical efficacy when compared with conventional Western medicine treatment. Shenmai injection, Yiqi Fumai injection (lyophilized), and Shengmai injection, which is part of Sheng Mai San, have clear advantages in terms of the overall curative effect or on individual indices.