Clinical Evidence on Treatment of Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases with Oral Chinese Patent Medicine： A Scoping Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to systematically retrieve and summarize the clinical evidence on oral Chinese patent medicine in otorhinolaryngology by scoping review and analyze the distribution of the evidence， which is expected to serve as a reference for clinical practice and healthcare decision-making. Seven databases were searched （from inception to March 2022） for the clinical evidence of oral Chinese patent medicine in the prevention and treatment of otorhinolaryngologic diseases， and the distribution of the evidence was discussed. A total of 248 papers from core journals/SCI were included： 238 clinical studies （185 randomized controlled trials， 46 semi-/non-randomized controlled trials， 7 case series studies）， 5 systematic reviews， 4 guidelines/expert consensuses， and 1 pharmacoeconomic study. The papers covered 26 oral Chinese patent medicines and 40 otorhinolaryngological diseases （5 ear diseases， 22 nose diseases， and 13 throat diseases）. The majority of the clinical studies included 100-300 cases. The combination of Chinese patent medicine and western medicine is the common intervention in the experimental group. The outcomes were mainly “cure rate” and improvement of clinical symptoms. Common adverse events were nausea， vomiting， rash， headache， gastrointestinal discomfort， fatigue， etc. In summary， there is a lack of high-quality clinical evidence on oral Chinese patent medicine in otorhinolaryngology. In addition， the available studies have such problems as seldom use of recognized outcomes， low quality of clinical studies， and lack of pharmacoeconomic study. In future， efforts should be made to carry out more rigorous primary and secondary research and enhance the pharmacoeconomic evaluation， in a bid to explore the advantages of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of otorhinolaryngologic diseases and promote the more rational allocation and application of health resources.