The efficacy and safety of anti-humidification traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of viral pneumonia: A meta-analysis

Objective A meta-analysis was used to evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)for dispelling dampness in the treatment of viral pneumonia.Methods The databases of CNKI,CBM,WanFang data,VIP,EMBASE,PubMed,and Cochrane library were searched,and the clinical trials of dispelling dampness TCM in the treatment of viral pneumonia were selected.The retrieval period is from the establishment of the database to December 2022.Stata 17.0 software was used to perform meta-analysis,and review manager 5.3 software was used to assess the risk of bias.Overall efficacy was evaluated by OR,and improvement in major clinical symptoms were evaluated by RR.Results A total of 20 randomized controlled trials were included,with a total of 2136 patients,including 1180 patients in the experimental group and 956 patients in the control group.Meta-analysis showed that TCM for dispelling dampness could significantly improve the efficacy of viral pneumonia patients[OR=2.652,95%CI=(2.187,3.217),Z=9.908,P<0.05];The child with abnormal lung X-rays returned to normal after treatment[RR=4.23,95%CI=(2.42,7.42),Z=5.04,P<0.05];In addition,patients had fewer adverse reactions to dispelling dampness TCM,and the safety of the trial was good.Conclusion This Meta-analysis further clarified the efficacy of TCM for dispelling dampness in the treatment of viral pneumonia by combining clinical data and has suggestive significance for the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia.