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Chinese medicine formulas for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease were superior to antioxidants in alanine aminotransferase normalization.
2021 World Journal of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Chinese medicine formulas for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Overview of systematic reviews Dai L, Zhou WJ, Zhong LLD, Tang XD, Ji G
Review Article Fatty Liver Disease NAFLD
Seven systematic reviews were ultimately included. All systematic reviews were conducted based on randomized controlled trials and published in the last decade. According to the AMSTAR 2 tool, one systematic review was judged as having a moderate confidence level, whereas the other studies were rated as having a low or extremely low level of confidence. The ROBIS tool showed that the included systematic reviews all had a high risk of bias due to insufficient consideration of identified concerns. According to the GRADE system, only two outcomes were determined as high quality; namely, TCM formulas with the HuoXueHuaYu principle were better than conventional medications in ultrasound improvement, and TCM formulas were superior to antioxidants in alanine aminotransferase normalization. Other outcomes were downgraded to lower levels, mainly because of heterogeneity among studies, not meeting optimal information sample size, and inclusion of excessive numbers of small sample studies. Nevertheless, the evidence quality of extracted outcomes should be further downgraded when applying to clinical practice due to indirectness.
Traditional Chinese medicines such as Shenge formula, Shugan Jianpi Huatan decoction and Heze lipid lowing oral liquid decoction might have positive effects on NAFLD by improving TCM syndrome scores, liver function, and body lipid profile.
2021 Chinese Medicine Efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicines for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic literature review of randomized controlled trials Liang, Z., Chen, X., Shi, J. et al.
Systematic Review Fatty Liver Disease NAFLD
A total of 53 RCTs involving 5997 participants with NAFLD were included in this review. Each included RCT tested a different TCMs giving a total of 53 TCMs identified in this study. Based on the evaluation of the RCT results, TCMs might have various beneficial effects such as improving TCM syndrome score, liver function, and body lipid profile. A range of non-serious, reversible adverse effects associated with the use of TCMs were also reported. However, no conclusion about the efficacy and safety of TCMs in NAFLD can be made. The quality of reporting was generally poor and the risks of bias was mostly uncertain in all trials.