ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2021
Effectiveness and Safety of Chinese Medicine Decoctions for Behcet's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Therapeutic effects of Gancao Xiexin Decoction on renal ischemia-reperfusion injury based on network pharmacology and experimental validation.BMC nephrology · 2025Article
- Application of artificial intelligence models for detecting the pterygium that requires surgical treatment based on anterior segment images.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Acute and subacute oral toxicity assessment of Gancao Xiexin decoction in Sprague-Dawley rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBehcet's disease (BD) is an autoimmune disease of systemic vasculitis with an unclear pathogenesis. Although western medicines remain the mainstay interventions, effectiveness and safety are significant challenges. Complementary and alternative medicine, including herbal medicine, are gaining more attention. Chinese medicine decoctions, which have been used for centuries, are the most common form of traditional therapies.
objectiveThe purpose of the review was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicine decoctions in the treatment of BD.
methodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) for BD treatment with Chinese medicine decoctions were searched in six electronic databases until March 2021. Primary outcomes were total effective rate, recovery rate, and recurrence rate. Secondary outcomes were clinical feature scores (oral ulcers, eye lesions, genital ulcers, skin lesions, arthropathies, fever, and pathergy reactions) and laboratory index levels (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and immunoglobulin A). The risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane Handbook, and a meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.4.1.
resultsSixteen RCTs with 924 patients were included in the review. The meta-analysis indicated that Chinese medicine decoctions were effective for BD when compared with control groups for all the primary outcomes and 7/10 of the secondary outcomes. Adverse events were reported in 11 of the 16 RCTs, with the Chinese medicine decoctions possibly having fewer adverse events than western drugs. This review included a range of classical prescriptions. An additional meta-analysis of modified Gancao Xiexin Decoction for BD treatment was conducted. Gancao Xiexin decoction is also discussed as a representative prescription, as well as high-frequency herbs, and warrants further exploration for individualized medicine and pharmacology.
conclusionChinese medicine decoctions have the potential to be effective and safe for treating BD. However, additional well-designed RCTs are needed to confirm the findings because of the unsatisfactory quality of the included studies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.