A Systematic Review Of Clearing Away Damp-heat Therapy On Ulcerative Colitis

Objective:The randomized controlled trials(RCTs)and Quasi-RCTs which applied the therapy of clearing away damp-heat for Ulcerative Colitis (UC) were searched systematically for the latest 10 years. This research is aimed to analyse the current situation and problems of TCM clinical trials in terms of the design, conducting, and curative effect, while make the systematic review of the curative effect of the TCM treatment on UC, thus an objective and scientific evaluation of the clinical efficacy of Chinese medicine treatment on ulcerative colitis can be made to provide reference for clinical research and treatment.Methods:Retrieve RCTs and Q-RCTs which applied the therapy of clearing away damp-heat for Ulcerative Colitis (UC) from Jan.2001 to Feb.2011 in databases, screen these researches by the strictly established inclusive and exclusive criteria, formulate the Systematic Review Table of thesis of TCM treatment on UC according to the principle of clinical epidemiology and DME, evaluate the quality of thesis in terms of randomization, Discordance between groups, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, intervention, sample volumn, blind-method, statistics method, the clinical efficacy judgment standardization, etc. Then utilize the RevMan5.0 to run Meta-analysis.Results:33 clinical trials are in line with the inclusion-criteria. All the included trials are assessed to be of poor quality in methodology. When calculate the Jadad grade according to the randomization, blind-method, drop-out and withdraw situation,6 trials get zero,18 trials get 1 point,4 trials get 2 points and 5 trials get 3 points, none of these trials get 4 or 5 points.1 trial is excluded due to the lack of datas, the rest 32 clinical trails are involved, and the Meta analysis showed that The clinical efficacy, the TCM syndrome and clincial curative efficacy for UC of the TCM group are better than the control group. The differences have statistical significance according to the Meta analysis (P<0.05). There is no significant difference between the two groups in colonoscopic efficacy for UC (P>0.05)Conclusion:The meta analysis shows that TCM syndrome and clincial curative efficacy for UC is better than that of conventional medical treatment. However, due to the problems of TCM clinical trials in terms of the design, conducting, and curative effect when applied the therapy of clearing away damp-heat for Ulcerative Colitis (UC),which lead to the poor quality of all the thesis included in this research, not to mention the public bias, the result of the meta analysis is not so reliable and authentic. it has to be futher proved when RCT of high quality appears, thus provide more convincing proof for evidence-based medicine.