Efficacy and Safety of the TCM Qi-Supplementing Therapy in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract EN

Background.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Qi-supplementing therapy has been used widely for treating myasthenia gravis (MG) in China.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Qi-supplementing therapy as an adjunctive therapy in MG patients.

Methods.

Seven electronic databases were searched through June 2016.

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the add-on effect of Qi-supplementing therapy in MG patients were included.

The outcome measures were the total effective rate, relapse rate, and adverse events.

Results.

Twenty-three RCTs involving 1,691 MG patients were included.

The included studies were of low-to-moderate quality.

Meta-analysis showed that Qi-supplementing therapy combined with Western medicine (WM) significantly improved the total response rate and reduced the relapse risk during 6–24 months of follow-up.

Subgroup analysis showed that Qi-supplementing therapy only affected the total response rate within the first 6 months of treatment.

Moreover, the rate of adverse events was lower with the addition of Qi-supplementing therapy to WM than with WM only.

Conclusions.

Short-term Qi-supplementing therapy combined with WM appears to be superior to WM for improving the total response rate and reducing the relapse rate.

However, more high-quality RCTs are warranted owing to methodological flaws of previous trials.