Meta-analysis of traditional Chinese medicine on chronic kidney disease

ABSTRACT

Objective

To explore the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods

Databases were used for literature research until 16 December 2022, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Embase. After full-text screening, data were extracted by two researchers independently. The Cochrane ROB tool was applied for quality assessment. The heterogeneity was tested using the Chi-squared-based Q statistic test and the I² statistic.

Results

The findings revealed that the use of TCM significantly improved the total effective rate (pooled odds ratio (OR) = 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [1.15, 1.57]), reduced the serum creatinine (SCr) level (pooled mean difference (MD) = -0.11, 95% CI = [−0.20, −0.03]), and increased the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, pooled MD = 3.76, 95% CI = [2.66, 4.87]) in patients with CKD, compared with non-TCM treatment. Meanwhile, TCM performed better effect on 24-h proteinuria (pooled MD = 0.17, 95% CI = [0.04, 0.31]) than non-TCM. No significant difference in the incidence of adverse events was found between TCM and non-TCM treatment (pooled OR = 0.63, 95% CI = [0.32, 1.24]). Sensitivity analysis demonstrated the stability of the pooled estimates.

Conclusion

TCM has the advantage over non-TCM treatment and is worth popularizing and applying in the prevention and cure of CKD.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42021279281

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic kidney disease
• traditional Chinese medicine
• estimated glomerular filtration rate
• serum creatinine
• meta analysis

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Author contributions

X-Y Wang: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft. S-H Zhao and A-N Wang: Formal analysis, Investigation. D Zou: Validation, Writing – review & editing.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14737167.2024.2306805

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Science and Technology Research Program of Education Department of Jilin Province [No. JJKH20230979KJ]; Bushen Peiyuan Decoction significantly inhibited Notch signaling pathway Study on the mechanism of renal fibrosis in rats; The seventh batch of national traditional Chinese medicine experts academic experience inheritance project [No. 26].