Comparative effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine supporting Qi and enriching blood for cancer related anemia in patients not receiving chemoradiotherapy: a meta-analysis and systematic review

Drug Des Devel Ther. 2018 Dec 28;13:221-230 doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S181182.
Abstract

A systematic review and meta-analysis of previous randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) supporting Qi and enriching blood in the treatment of cancer related anemia (CRA) in patients not receiving chemoradiotherapy were conducted. A total of 13 randomized controlled trials were included. Compared with the control group, better improvement was found for the level of hemoglobin (mean difference=4.57, 95% CI [1.38, 7.76], P=0.005) and overall therapeutic effect (risk ratio [RR]=1.31, 95% CI [1.18, 1.46], P<0.000) in the TCM groups. The incidence of related adverse events was not increased in the TCM groups (RR=0.54, 95% CI [0.29, 0.99], P=0.05). However, due to the relatively low quality and the small sample sizes of the included studies, the results should be interpreted with a degree of caution. Nevertheless, TCM with the role of supporting Qi and enriching blood may be a safe and effective treatment for CRA in patients not receiving chemoradiotherapy and might be considered as an alternative treatment to conventional western medicine including iron supplements and erythropoietin.

Metadata
KEYWORDS: cancer related anemia; meta-analysis; randomized controlled trial; supporting Qi and enriching blood; traditional Chinese medicine
MESH HEADINGS: Anemia; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Neoplasms; Qi
Study Details
Study Design: Systematic Review
Language: eng
Credits: Bibliographic data from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine