Chinese medical herbs for children’s persistent diarrhea: a systematic review

Objective: To systematically assess the effect of Chinese medical herbs on children with persistent diarrhea and to analyze the law of herbs in treatment.Methods: The trials of Chinese herbs for children's persistent diarrhea were collected by electronic retrieval tools in Cochrane Library,Medline,EMBASE,CBM database,CNKI database,VIP database and by hand in some Chinese journals and books.Meanwhile,we assessed the quality in accordance with the following criteria: randomized controlled trials and quasi-randomized controlled trials in the participants,comparing Chinese traditional medical herbs with some other treatments.Results: 25 literatures were brought into the studies totally with 2 802 cases(1 500 in treatment group and 1 302 in controlled group).The data of meta-analysis showed that the difference between the treatment group and control group was significant(Z=7.79,P0.00001) and with less side effects.We analyzed all the prescription-formulating principles and found that the herbs for drying dampness and strengthening the spleen were frequency of use.Some other traditional herbs(such as herbs for warming meridians to dissipate cold,herbs for promoting circulation of qi,diuretics for eliminating dampness,et al) were applied in high frequency.Conclusion: Chinese medical herbs were effective and safe for children's persistent diarrhea,whatever the routes of administration were,the effective rate of treatment groups was obvious with less side reaction comparing with controlled groups.Only because of the limited quantity and low quality,the RCTs with high quality evidence were still being needed for the further study.