Influence of six-character formula on patients with stable COPD: a Meta-analysis / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective We aim to objectively evaluate the influence of six-character formula on patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which investigated the influence of six-character formula on patients with COPD were electronically searched in the databases such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI),Chinese Science Technology Periodical Databases (VIP),Wanfang Data,PubMed,The Cochrane Library (Issue 6,2014) and ELSEVIER.According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,the references was screened,the data were extracted and the methodological quality of the included articles was assessed.Then,Meta-analy-sis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.Results A total of 10 studies involved,578 patients were included.The result of Meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group,six-character formula significantly improved six-minute walk distance,forced expiratory volume in a second (FEV1) and FEV1 predicted value,reduced the score of activity limitation and the impact of the disease in St George's respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ).the value of MD and 95％CI were 22.62 (10.49-34.75),0.10 (0.01-0.18),3.08 (0.18-5.97),8.69 (4.09-13.83),7.60 (2.34-12.85).However,there was no statistical difference in the score of symptom.Conclusions Six-character formula plays a significant role in the treatment of stable COPD.However,more studies in large scale and high quality are needed to verify the result.