Available online 9 April 2015
Efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine on health-related quality of life (SF-36) in hypertensive patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Highlights
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- This study systematically assessed published RCTs of Chinese Herbal Medicine improving HRQL in hypertensive patients that employ the SF-36 as an outcome measure.
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- Meta-analysis showed that CHM appears to have beneficial effects on improvement of HRQL in hypertensive patients.
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- Methodological quality assessment showed the actual situation of RCTs conducted in China. The majority of the included RCTs were poor methodological quality and further high quality RCTs should be carried out and reported in detail according to CONSORT.
Summary
Objectives
This
study aims to evaluate published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of
Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) improving health-related quality of life
(HRQL) in hypertensive patients that employ the Short-Form 36-Item
Health questionnaire (SF-36) as an outcome measure.
Methods
Five
electronic databases were searched up to October 2013 to identify RCTs
of CHM for hypertension. The primary outcome was SF-36. Trial selection,
data extraction, methodological quality assessment, and data analyses
were conducted according to the Cochrane handbook.
Results
Eleven
RCTs with total of 1043 participants were identified. The majority of
the included trials were assessed to be of poor methodological quality
and high clinical heterogeneity. Meta-analysis shows a significant
improvement both in physical component summary (PCS) measure and mental
component summary (MCS) measure of SF-36, with physical functioning
(WMD = 8.54[5.34, 11.74], p < 0.001), role physical (WMD = 13.32[7.03, 19.61], p < 0.001), bodily pain (WMD = 10.53[6.46, 14.60], p < 0.001), general health (WMD = −5.56[2.09, 9.02], p < 0.001), vitality (WMD = 6.84[4.33, 9.53], p < 0.001), social functioning (WMD = 7.50[2.63, 12.36], p < 0.001), role emotional (WMD = 12.06[4.45, 19.68], p < 0.001) and mental health (WMD = −5.68[2.90, 8.47], p < 0.001). CHM can also decrease systolic blood pressure (WMD = −4.45 [−6.71, −2.19], p < 0.001) and relieve symptoms related to hypertension.
Conclusions
CHM
appears to have beneficial effects on improvement of HRQL in
hypertensive patients. However, the findings should be interpreted with
caution due to the poor methodological quality and high clinical
heterogeneity of the included trials. Further clinical trials should be
carried out to provide more reliable evidence.
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+86 531 68617784; fax: +86 531 68617784.
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- Hua-Chen Jiao and Jian-Qing Ju contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
