Randomized Controlled Trials of Tianma Gouteng Decoction Combined with Nifedipine in the Treatment of Primary Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Tai J, Zou J, Zhang X, Wang Y, Liang Y, Guo D, Wang M, Cui C, Wang J, Cheng J, Shi Y · Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2020 January

DOI 10.1155/2020/5759083

Objective

To investigate the efficacy and safety of Tianma Gouteng decoction combined with nifedipine compared with nifedipine alone for treating primary hypertension.

Conclusions

The combination of Tianma Gouteng decoction and nifedipine has better effects than nifedipine alone in treating hypertension by lowering blood pressure and improving patients' traditional Chinese medicine symptoms.

Critical Appraisal

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Insights

Combining Tianma Gouteng decoction with nifedipine significantly improves hypertension treatment, including blood pressure reduction and improvement of Traditional Chinese medicine symptoms.

Exhaustive research published before September 1, 2019, was collected from electronic databases. To analyse the effectiveness of Tianma Gouteng decoction in combination with nifedipine for treating hypertension, 14 studies were chosen based on certain quality parameters. The research utilized the RevMan 5.3 software for data management and analysis. The total of 1537 patients (769 in the experimental group and 768 in the control group) participated in these studies. Results showed a significant improvement in the overall effectiveness of hypertension treatment when Tianma Gouteng decoction was combined with nifedipine. Furthermore, marked amelioration of traditional Chinese medicine symptoms was seen in the experimental group compared to the control group. However, caution should be exercised in considering these findings, mainly due to the small sample size and the quality of the clinical trials cited.