External application of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of XXXX : a meta-analysis.

@entity1 @entity171 @entity3478 @entity5 @entity23 @entity158 @entity1286
BACKGROUND: Bone @entity5 presents a clinical challenge with limitations of current treatments. Many @entity1 seek additional therapies that may relieve @entity158 . Many external applications of traditional Chinese medicines (EAs-TCMs) have been evaluated in clinical trials, but fewer are known about them outside of China. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy for @entity3478 . METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted in seven databases until December 2014 to identify @entity23 ( @entity23 ) about EAs-TCMs in the treatment of @entity3478 . The primary outcome was @entity158 relief rate. The secondary outcomes were adverse events at the end of treatment course. The methodological quality of @entity23 was assessed independently using six-item criteria according to the Cochrane Collaboration. All data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.2.0. We included any @entity23 evaluating an EA-TCM for the treatment of @entity3478 . We conducted a meta-analysis. RESULTS: We included six @entity23 with 534 @entity1 . In general, the reporting of methodological issues was poor. Compared with @entity1286 sustained release tablets (MSSRTs) or radiotherapy or @entity171 , we analyzed data from five trials reporting on complete response effect score (relative risk (RR)   =   5.38, 95  % confidence interval (CI)   =   2.80-10.31, P   <   0.00001) and partial response (RR   =   1.18, 95  % CI   =   1.02-1.37, P   =   0.02) and six trials reporting on @entity158 relief rate (RR   =   1.49, 95  % CI   =   1.43-1.67, P   <   0.00001). Six @entity23 showed significant effects of EA-TCM for improving @entity158 relief in @entity1 with @entity3478 . In addition, no severe adverse events were found. CONCLUSION: This systematic review showed positive but weak evidence of EA-TCM for @entity3478 because of the poor methodological quality and the small quantity of the included trials. Future rigorously designed @entity23 are required.
