scholarly journals An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanyang Liu ◽  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Jiahui Sun ◽  
Jiuxiu Yao ◽  
Lina Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽  
Methodological Quality ◽  
Efficacy And Safety ◽  
Quality Of Evidence ◽  
Chinese Herbal

Background: Multiple systematic reviews (SRs) have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we aim to perform an overview to assess the methodological quality and quality of evidence of the SRs to provide convincing data on the treatment of AD with CHM.Method: Six electronic databases including Chinese and English were searched, until April 31, 2021. Two researchers independently screen documents and extract data according to the predesigned rules. A Measure Tool to Assessment System Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2) was used to investigate the methodological quality, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to determine the quality of evidence for outcomes.Results: Twelve qualified SRs including 163 randomized controlled trials were reviewed. The methodological quality of the included SRs was considered extremely low assessed through AMSTAR-2. Compared with western medicines (WM) alone, CHM as an adjuvant treatment has shown significant effects in improving Mini-mental State Examination, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive, and Clinical Dementia Rating scores. The same is true for CHM alone. Regarding the effect on Activities Daily Living, neither the single CHM nor the combination with WM has an obvious effect. For the total effective rate, both single CHM and the combination with WM shown significant effects. Nine SRs suggested that CHM as adjuvant therapy or single-use had fewer adverse events than WM. Additionally, the quality of evidence for the main outcome was reviewed as low or extremely low according to GRADE profiler data.Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that CHM may be beneficial in improving the cognitive function of AD patients. However, we should be cautious about the evidence due to methodological flaws and low quality. High-quality RCTs are further needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of CHM for AD.

scholarly journals Effects of Nonpharmacological Interventions in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 153473542094502
Author(s):  
Jie Hao ◽  
Xiaoshu Zhu ◽  
Alan Bensoussan
Keyword(s):  
Peripheral Neuropathy ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Additional Treatment ◽  
Quality Of Evidence ◽  
Chinese Herbal ◽  
Potential Benefits

Introduction: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is one of the prevalent and disabling side effects of cancer treatment. However, management strategies for CIPN currently remain elusive, with treatment restricted to neuropathic pain medications, supportive care, and chemotherapy dosing adjustments. This overview explores evidence on the potential benefits and safety of nonpharmacological interventions in preventing and treating CIPN in cancer patients. Methods: Seven databases were searched for systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The methodological quality of the selected reviews was assessed by AMSTAR 2, and the quality of evidence was judged by GRADE. Twenty-eight systematic reviews were considered eligible for this review. Results: It was found that nonpharmacological interventions (acupuncture, exercise, herbal medicine, nutritional supplements) provided potential benefits for patients with CIPN. Furthermore, Chinese herbal medicine, administered orally or externally, significantly prevented and/or relieved the incidence and severity of CIPN in comparison to control groups (no additional treatment, placebo, and conventional western medicine). However, the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations were compromised by the inconsistencies and imprecision of included studies. The main concerns regarding the quality of systematic reviews included the lack of sufficiently rigorous a priori protocols, and the lack of protocol registration adopted in the included studies. Conclusions: Though looking across reviews, Chinese herbal medicine appear generally effective in CIPN, uncertainty remains about the effects of many other nonpharmacological interventions. The evidence on what works was particularly compromised by reporting and methodological limitations, which requires further investigation to be more certain of their effects.

Acupuncture plus Herbal Medicine for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (07) ◽  
pp. 1327-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simin Zhou ◽  
Lanlan Dong ◽  
Yuan He ◽  
Hong Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
World Population ◽  
Chinese Herbal ◽  
Significant Difference

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with the unprecedented aging tendency in our world population and has become a significant health issue. The use of Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat AD has been increasing in recent years. The objective of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of combining acupuncture with herbal medicine to treat AD. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture plus herbals versus treatment with western drugs for AD were retrieved from 11 databases. The data were extracted by two authors; dichotomous data were expressed as odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), while continuous data were calculated by mean differences (MDs) with 95% CIs. Although the combined analysis of the score of Activity of Daily Life (ADL) scale MD was [Formula: see text]3.59 (95% CI [Formula: see text]7.18–0.01, [Formula: see text]), which indicates there was no statistically significant difference between the two treatments at reducing the ADL scale score, the pooled results of 12 trials indicated that acupuncture plus Chinese herbal medicine was better than western drugs at improving the effectiveness rate (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.40–3.56), the combined evidence of 11 articles showed that acupuncture plus Chinese herbal medicine was more effective than western drugs at improving the scores for the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scale (2.10, 95% CI 0.69–3.51, [Formula: see text]) and the traditional Chinese medicine symptom (MD 5.07, 95% CI 3.90–6.25, [Formula: see text]). From the current research results, acupuncture plus herbal medicine may have advantages over western drugs for treating AD. Nevertheless, well-designed RCTs with a larger sample size are required in the future.

scholarly journals Outcome Measures of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Coronary Heart Disease: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Luo ◽  
Hao Xu
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Angina Pectoris ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽  
Chinese Herbal ◽  
Primary Endpoints

Objective. The aim of this overview was to summarize the outcome measures of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) as the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) based on available systematic reviews (SRs), so as to display the current situation and evaluate the potential benefits and advantages of CHM on CHD.Methods. An extensive search included the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, and 4 databases in Chinese. SRs of CHM for CHD were included. Besides evaluating and summarizing the outcome measures, we also estimated the quality of the included reviews by PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses). Data were extracted according to predefined inclusion criteria by two independent reviewers.Results. 46 articles were included. 20 kinds of CHM were reviewed. 7 SRs were concerned with myocardial infarction (MI), 38 SRs were related to angina pectoris. 11 SRs had primary endpoints, while others focused on secondary endpoints to evaluate CHM for CHD such as angina pectoris and electrocardiogram (ECG). One SR reported more adverse effects of CHM for CHD and of the SRs analyzed quality of life. Many CHM appeared to have significant effect on improving symptoms, ECG, biomarkers and so on. However, most SRs failed to make a definite conclusion for the effectiveness of CHM in CHD patients due specifically to the poor evidence. And according to PRISMA we found most of the trials in the SRs were of low quality.Conclusion. Primary endpoints were not used widely. The benefits of CHM for CHD need to be confirmed in the future with RCTs of more persuasive primary endpoints and high-quality SRs.

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