Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Chinese patent medicine in treating influenza in children by meta-analysis.Methods The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, CBM, WanFang and VIP databases were searched. Two investigators independently screened the literature according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The qualified literature reviews were evaluated for its methodological quality by using the Cochrane risk assessment tool. The original data of the literature was extracted and the data integration analysis of the literature was carried out by using Revman 5.3 software.Results A total of 51 Chinese RCTs were included, which were of low research quality. Meta-analysis results showed that: （1）In terms of clinical efficacy, Chinese patent medicine used alone or in combination with western medicine is better than western medicine in the treatment of children with influenza(P＜0.000 01). （2）In terms of safety, there was significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between oral Chinese patent medicine and western medicine(P=0.001)；there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between Chinese patent medicine injection and western medicine(P=0.56).Conclusion Based on the current evidence, it has been proved that Chinese patent medicine is effective in the treatment of childhood influenza, and it is safer in oral medication.

Key words:

Influenza, Chinese patent medicine, Meta-analysis, Child