SynthesisMedicine2022
Efficacy and safety of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine for the treatment of infant bronchiolitis: A systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE evaluation.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Traditional Chinese Medicine in COVID-19 Treatment: Integrating Ancient Wisdom with Modern Medicine.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- A comprehensive review on the cellular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of pediatric lung diseases.BioImpacts : BI · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInfant bronchiolitis has a high death rate in severe cases. In China, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is commonly used to treat infant bronchiolitis. However, it has not received enough international attention.
objectiveWe aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of integrated TCM and Western medicine for treating infant bronchiolitis.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review through 7 databases that included randomized controlled trials on integrated TCM and Western medicine for treating bronchiolitis, published in English or Chinese before February 4, 2021. To assess the risk of bias, the Cochrane Collaboration tool was employed to determine the quality of the included studies. We investigated clinical efficacy endpoints, hospitalization time, rates of recurrence, and adverse reactions and meta-analyzed the odds ratio (OR), mean difference (MD), and relative risk (RR), respectively. We assessed the overall certainty of the effect estimates using the GRADE approach. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021245294). Ethical approval is not required.
resultsForty-six studies (6427 children) were available for inclusion. We used 41 (5490 participants), 11 (1350 participants), 5 (1083 participants), and 11 (1295 participants) studies to analyze clinical efficacy endpoints (OR: 3.31; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.93, 3.74; P < .5), hospitalization time (MD: -2.10; 95% CI: -2.87, -1.34; P < .5), recurrence rate (RR: 0·41; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.56; P < .01), and adverse reaction rate (RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.55, 1.39; P = .57), respectively.
conclusionsIntegrated TCM and Western medicine is superior to Western medicine alone for treating bronchiolitis in terms of clinical efficacy, hospitalization time, and recurrence rate, with no increase in the adverse reaction rate. TCM is useful as an alternative therapy for viral bronchiolitis. Although further studies are needed to establish specific protocols for the use of TCM in clinical practice, these results may strengthen guideline recommendations regarding the use of TCM.
Indexed as
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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.