Efficacy of Herbal Medicines on Lung Function in Asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Journal of Pharmacopuncture · 10 authors, 7 centres

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TL;DR

A meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials found that herbal medicines used as add-on therapy significantly improved lung function (% predicted FEV1) in asthma patients compared to standard treatment alone. The benefit was more pronounced in adults than in children.

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The pooled result showed a statistically significant improvement with herbal medicines (WMD 3.73, 95% CI 1.76-5.70) and low heterogeneity (I² = 0.0%). The authors noted no considerable adverse events were reported and concluded the results support the complementary use of herbal medicines, though they call for further trials with larger sample sizes.

STUDY TYPE

meta-analysis

SPECIALTY

pulmonology

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AI pipeline

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ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10315876

Efficacy of Herbal Medicines on Lung Function in Asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Journal of Pharmacopuncture

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ABSTRACT

Abstract Objectives The present study was designed to conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of herbal medicines as add-on therapy on lung function in asthmatic patients. Methods A comprehensive search of online databases was performed up to December 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials that used orally herbal preparations for asthma as add-on therapy. Studies were assessed for methodological quality using the Cochrane Collaboration’s Risk of Bias tool. The main outcome was percent predicted value of forced expiratory volume (% predicted FEV1). Pooled weighted mean difference (WMD) estimate with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using inverse-variance weights method while random effects meta-analysis was used, taking into account clinical and conceptual heterogeneity. Results As a result, 1,525 studies were identified. 169 studies were reviewed in-depth and 23 studies met our systematic review inclusion criteria. Finally, nine randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. Findings indicated that use of herbal medicines in patients with asthma significantly improved % predicted FEV1 (WMD 3.73, 95% CI 1.76-5.70), with no evidence for significant heterogeneity (p = 0.56 [Q statistic], I 2 = 0.0%). In subgroup analysis by age, improvement in % predicted FEV1 was higher and significant in adults (WMD 5.16; 95% CI 2.68-7.63) compared to children (WMD = 1.27; 95% CI −1.98-4.51). Sensitivity analysis showed the significant effect of herbal medicine consumption on improving FEV1 was consistently (range of summary WMDs 3.27-4.59), indicating that the meta-analysis model was robust. There was no evidence of publication bias both visually and statistically. Conclusion Findings support, the complementary use of herbal medicines resulted in significant improvement in the lung function compared to standard treatment in asthmatic patients with no considerable adverse events. This improvement is more likely to be observed amongst adults. Keywords: persian medicine, asthma, herbal drug, forced expiratory volume, meta-analysis

CITATION EXPORT

Alireza Derakhshan, Masoumeh Sadeghi, Amir-Mohammad-Hashem Asnaashari et al.. Efficacy of Herbal Medicines on Lung Function in Asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Pharmacopuncture. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3831/KPI.2023.26.2.124

AUTHORS

10 · 7 CENTRES

Alireza Derakhshan, Masoumeh Sadeghi, Amir-Mohammad-Hashem Asnaashari, Mohsen Dehghani, Roshanak Salari, Majid Khadem-Rezaiyan, Majid Mirsadraee, Shahin Saeidinejat, Shima Jalali, Shabnam Jalali

1Faculty of Traditional Persian Medicine, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
2Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
3Lung Disease Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
4Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
6Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic Azad University-Mashhad Branch, Mashhad, Iran
7Department of Internal, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran