Abstract
Background. Tianma Gouteng Yin (TGY) is widely used for essential hypertension (EH) as adjunctive treatment. Many randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of TGY for EH have been published. However, it has not been evaluated to justify their clinical use and recommendation based on TCM zheng classification. Objectives. To assess the current clinical evidence of TGY as adjunctive treatment for EH with liver yang hyperactivity syndrome (LYHS) and liver-kidney yin deficiency syndrome (LKYDS). Search Strategy. 7 electronic databases were searched until November 20, 2012. Inclusion Criteria. RCTs testing TGY combined with antihypertensive drugs versus antihypertensive drugs were included. Data Extraction and Analyses. Study selection, data extraction, quality assessment, and data analyses were conducted according to the Cochrane standards. Results. 22 RCTs were included. Methodological quality was generally low. Except diuretics treatment group, blood pressure was improved in the other 5 subgroups; zheng was improved in angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), calcium channel blockers (CCBs), and “CCB + ACEI” treatment groups. The safety of TGY is still uncertain. Conclusions. No confirmed conclusion about the effectiveness and safety of TGY as adjunctive treatment for EH with LYHS and LKYDS could be made. More rigorous trials are needed to confirm the results.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide [1, 2]
With increasing popularity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) [85, 86], more and more systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analysis have been conducted to assess the efficiency of TCM for essential hypertension (EH) [87,88,89,90,91,92,93]
It is demonstrated that Chinese herbal medicine could contribute to low Blood Pressure (BP) smoothly, recover the circadian rhythm of BP, and improve symptoms and TCM zheng especially [94]
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide [1, 2]. High blood pressure (BP) is the major independent risk factors for CVD [3,4,5]. Hypertension and blood-pressure-related disease have become an emerging epidemic and important worldwide public-health challenge [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Tianma Gouteng Yin (TGY) is widely used for essential hypertension (EH) as adjunctive treatment. Many randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of TGY for EH have been published. To assess the current clinical evidence of TGY as adjunctive treatment for EH with liver yang hyperactivity syndrome (LYHS) and liver-kidney yin deficiency syndrome (LKYDS). No confirmed conclusion about the effectiveness and safety of TGY as adjunctive treatment for EH with LYHS and LKYDS could be made.
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