Abstract

Aims: To evaluate of the efficacy and safety of traditional medicine in treatment of chronic venous disease (CVD) of the lower limbs

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted by using CNKI, Wanfang, Pubmed, etc., databases to identify clinical trials investigating traditional medicine (TM) for CVD of the lower limbs. Eligible studies were selected according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed independently by two reviewers.

Results: A total of 943 trials were identified, of which 23 studies met the eligibility criteria for meta-analysis. For clinical efficacy rate, pooled analysis of 21 studies involving 1769 participants showed that TM were associated with a 13% increase in the number of patients achieving ≥30% improvement in clinical symptoms compared to the control group, with a risk ratio of 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08 to 1.18). Data from 6 studies involving 471 participants demonstrated that TM had a mean reduction of 1.11 (95% CI: -1,65; -0,57) in Venous Clinical Severity Score compared with the control group. For Visual Analog Scale scores, analysis of 3 studies showed a MD of 1.71 cm (95% CI: 1.06 to 2.36) favoring TM. For TM syndrome scores, results from 3 studies yielded a MD: -1.87 [-2.61, -1.12], suggesting a significantly higher clinical efficacy in the intervention group compared to control.

Conclusion: Traditional medicine demonstrated improvements in clinical symptoms for CVD of the lower limbs as an adjunctive therapy. However, further high-quality randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are needed.