Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicines on Helicobacter pylori-associated gastroduodenal ulcers: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect and safety of Chinese herbal medicines on Helicobacter pylori (HP)-associated gastroduodenal ulcers. METHODS: All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) listed in the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, WanFang, China Science and Technology Journal Database and SinoMed databases that were published in English or Chinese were searched, and the retrieval time range was from database inception to December 31, 2018. A comprehensive Meta-analysis of all publications was performed with RevMan 5.3 software, and the quality of the evidence reported in the results of Meta-analysis was analyzed with GRADE profiler software (version 3.6.1). Dichotomous data were analyzed by calculating odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Outcome measures included the HP clearance rate and percentage of adverse effects. RESULTS: Eight trials with 919 participants were included in this Meta-analysis. Compared with the effects of single drug therapy on HP-associated gastroduodenal ulcers, according to the statistical analysis, odds ratios for the HP clearance rate and percentage of adverse effects of Chinese herbal medicines administered as complementary medicines combined with drugs were 3.10 [95% CI (2.21, 4.36), P < 0.01] and 0.28 [95% CI (0.15, 0.52), P < 0.01], respectively, and the differences were statistically significant. According to the GRADE analysis, the quality of evidence for the HP clearance rate and percentage of adverse effects were both very low. CONCLUSION: Compared with using the drug therapy only, the combination of Chinese herbal medicines with the drug therapy more effectively eliminates HP and alleviates adverse reactions. However, the available studies were of low quality, and therefore more well-designed studies are required to further confirm the findings.