• 1. Department of Clinical Edpimeology & Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Centre; West China Hospital of Sichuan University(Chengdu 610041); China 2. China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine(Beijing 100700) 3. Guang An Men Hospital; China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine(Beijing 100053);
Export PDF Favorites Scan Get Citation

Objective  To assess the effect of integrated traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine (ICWM) in the treatment of SARS.
Methods  We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Chinese BioMed Database ( CBM ) , and the Intemet performed handsearching in Chinese journals and reference lists. We included randomised controlled trials and prospective controlled studies of integrated Chinese medicine with western medicine versus western medicine alone in people with SARS. Three independent reviewers collected details of study population, interventions, and outcomes using a data extraction form. We conducted meta-analysis for similar data of studies.
Results  Nine studies (n =812) were included, all with the possibility of containing serious bias. ICWM in the treatment of SARS was associated with the following reductions: case fatality [ OR 0.32, 95% CI (0.14,0.71 ) ] , fever clearance time [ WMD -1.17, 95% CI ( -1.83, -0.50 ) , symptom remission time [ WMD-1.47, 95% CI ( - 1.96, - 0. 98) ] and the number of inflammation absorption cases [ MD 1.63, 95% CI(0.95, 2.80 ) ], having no significant difference in symptom scores of convalescents [ WMD -1.25, 95% CI ( -2.71, 0.21 ) ], cumulative dose of corticosteroids [ WMD - 236.96, 95% CI ( - 490.64, 16.73) ] and inflammation absorption mean time [ WMD 0.63, 95% CI ( - 1.33, 2.59) ] .
Conclusions  Due to the methodological limitations of the studies, the effect of ICWM for SARS is unclear. The apparent improvements in cases fatality, fever clearance time, syndromes remission time and numbers of inflammation absorption cases warrant further evaluation with high quality and large scale trials to be expected.

Citation: WU Taixiang,LIU Baoyan,LIU Guanjian,ZHAO Ting,PENG Weina,XU Hairong,ZHAO Na,DONG Birong. A Systematic Review of Assessing the Effect of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine with Western Medicine for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2004, 04(4): 226-238. doi: Copy