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A Traditional Chinese Medicine Characteristic Therapy for Bronchial Asthma: Moxibustion
Published on: May 12, 2023
Chinese medicinal herbs for acute bronchitis.
Lanhui Jiang1, Ka Li, Taixiang Wu
1Chinese Evidence-BasedMedicine Centre,West China Hospital,Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|February 17, 2012
Summary
This review found no high-quality evidence to support the use of Chinese medicinal herbs for acute bronchitis. More rigorous research is needed to determine their effectiveness and safety.
Area of Science:
- Respiratory Medicine
- Integrative Medicine
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Acute bronchitis is a common primary care diagnosis.
- Traditional treatments, including antibiotics, have limited evidence of effectiveness.
- Chinese medicinal herbs are also used for acute bronchitis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the evidence on the comparative effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicinal herbs for uncomplicated acute bronchitis.
Main Methods:
- Searched multiple databases (CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI, CBM) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
- Included RCTs comparing Chinese herbs to placebo, antibiotics, or Western medicines.
- Data extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two authors.
Main Results:
- 74 studies reported as RCTs involving 6877 participants were identified.
- None of the identified studies met the inclusion criteria for this review.
- 39 studies were non-RCTs, and 35 compared different Chinese herbal medicines.
Conclusions:
- Insufficient high-quality data exists to recommend Chinese herbs for acute bronchitis.
- Limitations in trial design prevent conclusions on the benefits of Chinese herbs.
- The safety of Chinese herbs for acute bronchitis remains unknown due to a lack of toxicological data.
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