Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Cimetidine in the Treatment of Mumps

Objective: To compare the efficacy of cimetidine and ribavirin in the treatment of mumps by meta-analysis. Methods: Controlled trials of cimetidine and ribavirin in the treatment of mumps were searched through China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang data, Cqvip, Pubmed, The Cochrane Library and EMBase databases up to September 2022. The effective rate, the time of swelling regression in parotid gland area and the rate of adverse reactions were analyzed by Review Manager 5.3 software. Results: The final 10 articles included 920 children, including 427 in the trial group and 447 in the control group. Meta analysis showed that the effective rate of cimetidine in the treatment of mumps was higher than that of ribavirin in routine treatment, with a statistically significant difference (odds ratio [OR] = 5.2, P < 0.00001); The time of swelling regression was statistically significant (OR = -1.28, P < 0.00001); The difference of adverse reaction rate was not statistically significant (OR = 0.73, P = 0.62). Conclusions: Compared with ribavirin, cimetidine is more effective in the treatment of mumps, with shorter swelling regression time without increases of adverse reactions.