Systematic review and Meta-analysis of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with Western medicine for acute gastroenteritis

Abstract

To systematically review the efficacy and safety of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with Western medicine in the treatment of acute gastroenteritis. Four Chinese databases( CNKI,VIP,Wan Fang,Sino Med) and three English databases( Cochrane Library,Medline,EMbase) were systematically and comprehensively searched from the database establishment to April 2019 to collect the randomized controlled trials( RCTs) about the treatment of acute gastroenteritis with Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with Western medicine. Two investigators independently performed literature screening,data extraction and bias risk assessment. Rev Man 5. 3 software was used for data analysis. A total of 316 articles were retrieved and finally 44 studies were included in this study,involving 4153 patients. The overall quality of the included studies was generally low. Meta-analysis results showed that in the total clinical effective rate,Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with conventional treatment or norfloxacin tablets was superior to conventional treatment or norfloxacin tablets alone. In terms of the time for improving clinical symptoms,Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with conventional treatment or norfloxacin tablets could better relieve fever than conventional treatment or norfloxacin tablets alone. In terms of incidence of adverse reactions,there was no statistical difference between Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills combined with conventional treatment and conventional treatment alone. Other outcome measures were affected by various factors( such as inclusion of only 1 study or excessive heterogeneity among studies) and could not be concluded. Due to the limitations of the quality and quantity of included studies,this conclusion still needs to be verified by more high quality researches.