OBJECTIVES: To systematically review and evaluate the clinical effectiveness of TCM in AD patients.

METHODS: Three electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched for clinical studies investigating the efficacy of TCM or TCM and western medicine in AD patients from 1 January 2010 to 10 March 2016. Meta-analyses were conducted for studies with sufficiently homogenous outcome measure and study designs using RevMan 5.3, with results reported as relative risk (RR). 15 articles involving 1124 AD patients met the selection criteria and were analyzed.

RESULTS: When pooled together, regardless of adding onto western medicine or alone, TCM was more effective than western medicine alone (RR, 1.20; 95%CI:1.14-1.28). For subgroup analyses of TCM vs. western medicine, TCM again produced significantly better outcome compared with western medicine (RR, 1.21; 95%CI:1.11-1.31).TCM plus western medicine interventions also showed statistically significant better effects compared with the western medicine alone (RR, 1.20; 95%CI:1.10-1.31).

CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review suggested that managing AD with TCM or TCM and Western medicine combination are more effective than Western medicine alone. However, limitations of method and quality in the included trials would require further long-term clinical studies with larger sample size to confirm the results.