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Chinese Herbal Medicine for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Abstract
Purpose: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is an important complementary and alternative therapy for the management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Previous meta-analyses suggested that CHM is effective for IBS; nonetheless, its effectiveness is inconclusive owing to repeated significance testing. We aimed to examine the efficacy and safety of CHM for IBS through a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA). Methods: We searched OVID Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science from January 1, 1980, to September 20, 2020. The primary outcome was adequate relief of global IBS symptoms. The secondary outcomes included relief of abdominal pain and treatment-related adverse events. The relative ratio (RR) and required information size (RIS) were calculated for each outcome. Results: Ten trials recruiting 2,501 participants were included. Seven (70%) trials were at low risk of bias (RoB). Compared with placebo, CHM was associated with a significantly higher proportion of adequate relief of global IBS symptoms [RR 1.76 (95% confidence interval (95%CI), 1.33–2.33); I 2 = 81.1%; p < 0.001]. The RIS was 1,083 for the primary outcome, and the accrued information size was 1,716. The analysis of the relief of abdominal pain (three trials with 916 participants) showed similar results compared with placebo [RR 1.85 (95%CI, 1.59–2.14); I 2 = 0%; p < 0.001; RIS = 197 participants]. CHM was associated with a higher proportion of adverse events compared with placebo [RR 1.51 (95%CI, 1.14–2); I 2 = 0%; p = 0.004]. Conclusion: CHM was effective in relieving IBS symptoms but caused a higher adverse event rate than placebo. TSA analysis confirmed the findings with sufficient information size.
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“A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, involving approximately 2500 participants, showed that Chinese herbal medicine was more effective than placebo in relieving global IBS symptoms and abdominal pain.”
From Natural Remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Herbal-Based Therapies (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
In the citing paper
“Reported adverse events, while more frequent than with placebo, were generally mild and primarily affecting the GI tract.”
From Natural Remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Herbal-Based Therapies (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
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“Likewise, some Chinese herbal medicines, which include different combinations of plants, thereby addressing different symptoms through different mechanisms of action, have also demonstrated usefulness in IBS treatment.”
From Natural Remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Herbal-Based Therapies (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
In the citing paper
“Chinese herbal medicine shows promise for short-term symptom relief in IBS, particularly IBS-D; however, many clinical trials included only a limited number of subjects, thus limiting the strength and the relevance of the observations [107].”
From Natural Remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Herbal-Based Therapies (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
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RoB 2: a revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials
Sterne, J. A. C., Savović, J., Page, M. J., Elbers, R. G., Blencowe, N. S., Boutron, I., Cates, C. J., Cheng, H.-Y., Corbett, M. S., Eldridge, S. M., et al. (2019) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.l4898 · Cited by 34,787
Whitehead, W. E., Palsson, O., & Jones, K. R. (2002) · Gastroenterology · doi:10.1053/gast.2002.32392 · Cited by 1,116 · cited 1×
“, anxiety, depression, and other functional gastrointestinal disorders) and sex since the comorbidity of IBS with other disorders is common (Whitehead et al., 2002) and there is no evidence suggesting a difference in the effect of CHM caused by sex.”
BackgroundACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Lacy, B. E., Pimentel, M., Brenner, D. M., Chey, W. D., Keefer, L. A., Long, M. D., & Moshiree, B. (2021) · American Journal of Gastroenterology · doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000001036 · Cited by 893 · cited 3×
“Many treatments are proposed for IBS (Mearin et al., 2016; Moayyedi et al., 2019; Lacy et al., 2021), and dietary interventions and pharmacological treatments (Chen et al.”
BackgroundMethod
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Cited by
Natural Remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Herbal-Based Therapies
Abalo, R., Gallego-Barceló, P., & Gabbia, D. (2025) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms26199345 · Cited by 5
Metadata
- Authors
- Zheng, H., Jin, S., Shen, Y.-L., Peng, W.-Y., Ye, K., Tang, T.-C., Zhao, J., Chen, M., & Li, Z.-G.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Pharmacology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2021-07-27
- Volume
- 12
- ISSN
- 1663-9812
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 3
- Funders
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China
- Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
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