PMID- 31610072
OWN - NLM
STAT- Publisher
LR  - 20240227
IS  - 1742-1241 (Electronic)
IS  - 1368-5031 (Linking)
DP  - 2019 Oct 14
TI  - Traditional medicines for asthma in children and adults: A systematic review of 
      placebo-controlled studies.
PG  - e13433
LID - 10.1111/ijcp.13433 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traditional medicines (TMs) adjunctive to conventional medications 
      are widely used for asthma in east-Asia and have gained popularity in western 
      countries. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of TMs for asthma in 
      children and adults based on placebo-controlled trials in order to inform 
      physicians and assist them in discussions with patients. METHODS: Seventeen 
      electronic databases were searched. Participants had acute or chronic asthma. 
      Interventions included orally administered traditional medicines used in 
      east-Asia. Outcomes included lung function, symptoms, quality of life, 
      exacerbations, medication use and safety. RevMan 5.3 (random effect model) was 
      used for meta-analysis. Baseline values were assessed for balance and asthma 
      severity. Within-group changes were calculated to assess minimal clinically 
      important difference (MCID). RESULTS: Eighteen studies (2080 participants) were 
      included. All combined TMs with conventional medicines. The single study of acute 
      asthma (n = 300) showed an improvement. For chronic asthma, severity at baseline 
      ranged from very mild to severe. When asthma was mild, significant differences in 
      lung function (FEV1%, PEF/R) were not detectable. When participants had moderate 
      and/or severe asthma at baseline improvements were more evident. For measures of 
      lung function, improvements within the TM groups tended to be greater when the 
      asthma was more severe. Some studies showed MCIDs. No serious adverse events or 
      interactions were reported but safety data were incomplete. CONCLUSIONS: The 
      application of certain traditional herbal medicines used in east-Asia as adjuncts 
      to conventional medications improved outcomes in acute and chronic asthma, but 
      most evidence was based on single trials. Therefore, no single TM could be 
      recommended. Effect sizes varied according to asthma severity at baseline. Future 
      studies should consider baseline severity when enrolling participants.
CI  - (c) 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
FAU - Clyne, Allison
AU  - Clyne A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-7818-8734
AD  - School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., 
      Australia.
FAU - Yang, Angela Wei Hong
AU  - Yang AWH
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9345-4607
AD  - School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., 
      Australia.
FAU - Li, Mingdi
AU  - Li M
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5329-4562
AD  - School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., 
      Australia.
FAU - Fei, Yutong
AU  - Fei Y
AD  - Centre for Evidence-based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese 
      Medicine, Chaoyang, China.
FAU - May, Brian H
AU  - May BH
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5864-3020
AD  - School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., 
      Australia.
LA  - eng
GR  - Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian 
      Government/
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
DEP - 20191014
PL  - India
TA  - Int J Clin Pract
JT  - International journal of clinical practice
JID - 9712381
SB  - IM
EDAT- 2019/10/15 06:00
MHDA- 2019/10/15 06:00
CRDT- 2019/10/15 06:00
PHST- 2019/04/29 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2019/09/19 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2019/10/08 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2019/10/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/10/15 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2019/10/15 06:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1111/ijcp.13433 [doi]
PST - aheadofprint
SO  - Int J Clin Pract. 2019 Oct 14:e13433. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.13433.