Table 4 Chinese Herbal Medicine for Improving Survival Rate among Cancer Patients: Overview of Meta-Analyses Results.

From: Effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine for cancer palliative care: overview of systematic reviews with meta-analyses

First author and year of publication

Comparison^

Duration of follow up (year)

No. of studies (No. of patients)

Pooled results (95% CI)

Heterogeneity I2 (%)

Quality of evidence

Non-small cell lung cancer

Chen, 2010

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

4(338)

OR: 1.29 [0.83, 2.01]

0.0

Low

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

2

2(180)

OR: 2.26 [1.16, 3.99]

58.

Low

Rong, 2012

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

5(NR)

RR: 1.35[1.09, 1.66]

0.0

Moderate

Li, 2013

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

7(608)

RR: 1.36[1.15, 1.60]

0.0

Moderate

Tian, 2013

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

5(NR)

OR: 1.56[1.08, 2.25]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

5(NR)

OR: 2.59[1.51, 4.45]

0.0

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

5

5(NR)

OR: 2.45[1.24, 4.84]

0.0

High

Lung cancer (Type unspecified)

Yang, 2012

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

2

4(406)

OR: 3.44[2.04, 5.80]

0.0

Moderate

Liver cancer

Wu, 2009b

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

0.5

15(NR)

RR: 1.10[1.04, 1.15]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

1

22(NR)

RR: 1.26[1.17, 1.36]

7.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

1.5

4(NR)

RR: 1.71[1.02, 2.91]

70.0*

Low

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

2

15(NR)

RR: 1.72[1.40, 2.03]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

3

8(NR)

RR: 2.40[1.65, 3.49]

0.0

High

Ma, 2011b

KS+TACE VS. TACE

1

4(283)

OR: 2.18 [1.29, 3.69]

0.0

High

Li, 2012b

CHM+TACE vs. TACE alone or TACE+ conventional care

1

17(1238)

RR: 1.36[1.25, 1.49]

15.0

Moderate

Liver cancer

Cheung, 2013

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

0.5

22(2278)

RR: 1.12 [1.07, 1.16]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

1

30(2963)

RR: 1.40 [1.32, 1.50]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

1.5

5(327)

RR: 1.89 [1.44, 2.49]

63.0*

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

2

19(2220)

RR: 1.75 [1.55, 1.99]

30.0

Moderate

 

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

3

11(1338)

RR: 2.51 [1.97, 3.19]

67.0*

High

Jiang, 2013

CHM+TACE vs. TACE

1

12(991)

OR: 2.15[1.63, 2.85]

21.0

High

Gastric cancer

Zhou,2010

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

4(409)

OR: 2.33 [1.53, 3.56]

22.4

Moderate

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

5

5(655)

OR: 1.84 [1.31, 2.59]

0.0

Moderate

Wang, 2011

KLT + chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

2(94)

OR: 6.74 [2.74, 16.62]

0.0

High

Shi, 2012

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

3(289)

OR: 1.10[1.01, 1.21]

0.0

Low

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

2

3(289)

OR: 1.29[1.11, 1.50]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

3(311)

OR: 1.43[1.15, 1.75]

0.0

Moderate

Xie, 2013

Huachansu + chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

4(NR)

RR: 1.25[0.73, 2.14]

0.0

Moderate

Xu, 2013

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

4(399)

OR: 2.17[1.15, 4.08]

0.0

Moderate

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

4(407)

OR: 2.26[1.51, 3.39]

0.0

Moderate

Colorectal cancer

Guo, 2012

CHM + chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

4 (238)

RR: 1.39[1.15, 1.69]

NR

Moderate

 

CHM + chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

2(129)

RR: 2.23 [1.05, 4.73]

NR

Moderate

Li, 2012a

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

0.5

3(134)

OR: 2.19[1.10, 4.34]

0.0

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

12(930)

OR: 2.83[2.01, 3.99]

0.0

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

2

6(454)

OR: 2.59[1.59, 4.24]

0.0

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

3

8(657)

OR: 2.25[1.54, 3.30]

0.0

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

4

1(122)

OR: 2.29[1.08, 4.82]

NA

High

 

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

5

4(394)

OR: 2.32[1.55, 3.48]

0.0

High

Chen, 2014

CHM+FOLFOX4 vs. FOLFOX4

1

3(279)

RR: 1.51[1.19, 1.90]

0.0

Moderate

Liu, 2014

CHM+ chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy

1

4(339)

OR: 2.60[1.46, 4.63]

29.0

Moderate

Nasopharyngeal cancer

Qiao, 2011

CHM + radiotherapy vs. radiotherapy

3

3(307)

RR: 1.30 [1.03, 1.63]

46.0

Moderate

Esophageal cancer

Du, 2013

KS + radiotherapy alone or KS + chemotherapy + radiotherapy vs. radiotherapy alone or chemotherapy + radiotherapy

3

2(142)

OR: 1.86[0.96, 3.62]

21.4

Low

Cervical cancer

Xu, 2012

CHM+ chemotherapy or radiotherapy vs. chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone

1

4(427)

OR: 4.16[1.97, 8.78]

NR

Moderate

Various types of cancer

Su, 2013

KS+ chemotherapy or radiotherapy vs. chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone

1

9(656)

RR: 1.41[1.23, 1.63]

0.0

Moderate

 

KS+ chemotherapy or radiotherapy vs. chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone

2

6(408)

RR: 1.76[1.23, 2.48]

32.7

Moderate

  1. *p < 0.05 for the heterogeneity test;
  2. ^CHM denotes the inclusion of all types of Chinese herbal medicines. The use of generic terms “chemotherapy” or “radiotherapy” denote that the specific treatments used were not described in the original meta-analyses publications.
  3. Effects on dichotomous data were summarized with risk ratio (RR) or odds ratio (OR) to measure the risk of experiencing certain outcome in the treatment group as compared to the control group.
  4. Keys: CHM, Chinese herbal medicine; CI confidence interval; FOLFOX, the FOLFOX regimen refers to 5-Fluorouracil + Leucovorin combined with Oxaliplatin; KLT, Kanglaite injection; KS, Compound Kushen injection; NR, not reported; OR, odds ratio; RR, relative risk; TACE, Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.
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