Meta-analysis of TCM in the Treatment of AIDS Diarrhea

Abstract Objective  The aim of the study is to systematically evaluate the effect of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea. Methods  The computer system was used to comprehensively search database of Wanfang (WF), VIP, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) for relevant literature on the application effect of Chinese medicine in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea. The retrieval time was set from January 1, 2010 to August 15, 2021. The documents that did not meet the inclusion criteria were eliminated, and the quality of the qualified literature was evaluated according to the improved Jadad scoring standard. The main outcome indicators were entered into the literature, and Review Manager 5.0 software was used for meta-analysis. Results  Eight eligible articles were included, a total of 536 cases of AIDS diarrhea patients were included. All eight eligible articles observed the clinical efficacy of TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea, among which four observed the TCM syndrome changes in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea, and four observed adverse reactions of TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea. All articles were extracted for valid data. After entering all the main observation index data, the results of meta-analysis showed that the effect of TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea was better, the difference was statistically significant [ MD  = 2.92, 95% CI (1.81, 4.70), p <0.001]; TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea was more conducive to improving the TCM syndrome scores of patients, the difference was statistically significant [ MD  = −2.55, 95% CI (−3.37, −1.73), p < 0.001]; the adverse effects of TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea were mild, and the difference was statistically significant [ MD  = 1.70, 95% CI (0.48, 5.97), p  = 0.41]. Conclusion  The effect of TCM in the treatment of AIDS diarrhea patients is remarkable, which can effectively improve the TCM symptom scores of patients without increasing the incidence of adverse reactions.