Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Chinese Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Uremic Pruritus: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

• Published in: Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 15; no. 10; p. 1239
• Main Authors: Lu, Ping-Hsun, Lai, Chien-Cheng, Lin, I-Hsin, Tsai, Fu-Ming, Lu, Po-Hsuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.10.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Bias; Care and treatment; Chinese herbal medicine; chronic kidney disease; Chronic kidney failure; chronic renal failure; Drug therapy; Health aspects; Hemodialysis; Herbal medicine; Histamine; Kidney diseases; Light therapy; Medicine, Chinese; Meta-analysis; Patient outcomes; Pruritus; Quality of life; Sunburn & sun tanning; Systematic Review; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; uremic pruritus; China; meta-analysis; Chinese herbal medicine; chronic kidney disease; uremic pruritus; systematic review; chronic renal failure
• ISSN: 1424-8247; 1424-8247
• DOI: 10.3390/ph15101239

Uremic pruritus is a disturbing and refractory symptom in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Chinese herbal medicine has been reported to alleviate uremic pruritus. To investigate the effects of Chinese herbal medicine, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on patients with uremic pruritus. We searched databases (prior to 3 May 2022) for randomized controlled trials on the effects of Chinese herbal medicine in treating uremic pruritus. Our meta-analysis included 3311 patients from 50 randomized controlled trials. In patients with uremic pruritus, adjunctive Chinese herbal medicine significantly improved overall effectiveness (risk ratio 1.29, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.35), quality of life, renal function, reduced pruritus score, and inflammatory biomarkers compared to control groups with hemodialysis alone or with anti-pruritic treatments. Chinese herbal medicine treatment showed a time-dependent tendency in improving the visual analog scale of dialysis patients. Compared to control groups, no significantly higher risk of adverse events in patients taking Chinese herbal medicine (risk ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.22 to 1.63). Chinese herbal medicine appears to be effective and safe in complementing the treatment of patients with uremic pruritus.