Clinical evidence of three traditional Chinese medicine drugs and three herbal formulas for COVID-19:A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Chinese population

Background The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)continues to spread worldwide.Integrated Chinese and Western medicine have had some successes in treating COVID-19.Objective This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of three traditional Chinese medicine drugs and three herbal formulas(3-drugs-3-formulas)in patients with COVID-19.Search strategy Relevant studies were identified from 12 electronic databases searched from their establishment to April 7,2022.Inclusion criteria Randomized controlled trials(RCTs),non-RCTs and cohort studies that evaluated the effects of 3-drugs-3-formulas for COVID-19.The treatment group was treated with one of the 3-drugs-3-formulas plus conventional treatment.The control group was treated with conventional treatment.Data extraction and analysis Two evaluators screened and selected literature independently,then extracted basic information and assessed risk of bias.The treatment outcome measures were duration of main symptoms,hospitalization time,aggravation rate and mortality.RevMan 5.4 was used to analyze the pooled results reported as mean difference(MD)with 95%confidence interval(CI)for continuous data and risk ratio(RR)with 95%CI for dichotomous data.Results Forty-one studies with a total of 13,260 participants were identified.Our analysis suggests that compared with conventional treatment,the combination of 3-drugs-3-formulas might shorten duration of fever(MD=–1.39;95%CI:–2.19 to–0.59;P<0.05),cough(MD=–1.57;95%CI:–2.16 to–0.98;P<0.05)and fatigue(MD=–1.36;95%CI:–2.21 to–0.51;P<0.05),decrease length of hospital stay(MD=–2.62;95%CI–3.52 to–1.72;P<0.05),the time for nucleic acid conversion(MD=–2.92;95%CI:–4.26 to–1.59;P<0.05),aggravation rate(RR=0.49;95%CI:0.38 to 0.64;P<0.05)and mortality(RR=0.34;95%CI:0.19 to 0.62;P<0.05),and increase the recovery rate of chest computerized tomography manifestations(RR=1.22;95%CI:1.14 to 1.3;P<0.05)and total effectiveness(RR=1.24;95%CI:1.09 to 1.42;P<0.05).Conclusion The 3-drugs-3-formulas can play an active role in treating all stages of COVID-19.No severe adverse events related to 3-drugs-3-formulas were observed.Hence,3-drugs-3-formulas combined with conventional therapies have effective therapeutic value for COVID-19 patients.Further long-term high-quality studies are essential to demonstrate the clinical benefits of each formula.

Assessing the Diagnostic Accuracy of SD BIOLINE for Detection of Hepatitis C Virus:A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Hepatitis C virus(HCV)is a globally widespread ribonucleic acid virus that transmits through blood and sexual contact.Its morbidity and mortality are particularly higher in economically underdeveloped areas.Therefore,an economical and effective diagnostic method for detection of HCV is urgently needed.In this study,we evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the SD BIOLINE rapid diagnostic test for HCV detection.We searched for studies related to SD BIOLINE and HCV in PubMed,Embase,Web of Science,and the Cochrane Library and then designed inclusion and exclusion criteria.After extracting valid data,the included literature was evaluated with the quality assessment tool Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies.After our data analysis,the sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ratio,negative likelihood ratio,diagnostic accuracy,summary receiver operating characteristic curve,funnel plot,box plot,and Fagan plot of the diagnosticmethod were determined.Nine articles with nine sets of data were finally included.The sensitivity and specificity were 0.94 and 0.98,respectively,the positive likelihood ratio was 79.53,the negative likelihood ratio was 0.05,the diagnostic odds ratio was 1590.32,and the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.9958.The SD BIOLINE test has the advantages of high sensitivity,high specificity,low cost,and easy operation for diagnosing HCV.Therefore,we recommend using SD BIOLINE for rapid and effective screening of HCV,which is especially applicable for economically underdeveloped areas.