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Complementary medicine
Research
Effectiveness and safety of herbal medicines for induction of labour: a systematic review and meta-analysis
  1. Collins Zamawe1,
  2. Carina King1,
  3. Hannah Maria Jennings1,
  4. Chrispin Mandiwa2,
  5. Edward Fottrell1
  1. 1 Faculty of Population Health Sciences, Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK
  2. 2 School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
  1. Correspondence to Collins Zamawe; c.zamawe{at}ucl.ac.uk

Abstract

Objective The use of herbal medicines for induction of labour (IOL) is common globally and yet its effects are not well understood. We assessed the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines for IOL.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature.

Data sources We searched in MEDLINE, AMED and CINAHL in April 2017, updated in June 2018.

Eligibility criteria We considered experimental and non-experimental studies that compared relevant pregnancy outcomes between users and non-user of herbal medicines for IOL.

Data extraction and synthesis Data were extracted by two reviewers using a standardised form. A random-effects model was used to synthesise effects sizes and heterogeneity was explored through I2 statistic. The risk of bias was assessed using ‘John Hopkins Nursing School Critical Appraisal Tool’ and ‘Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool’.

Results A total of 1421 papers were identified through the searches, but only 10 were retained after eligibility and risk of bias assessments. The users of herbal medicine for IOL were significantly more likely to give birth within 24 hours than non-users (Risk Ratio (RR) 4.48; 95% CI 1.75 to 11.44). No significant difference in the incidence of caesarean section (RR 1.19; 95% CI 0.76 to 1.86), assisted vaginal delivery (RR 0.73; 95% CI 0.47 to 1.14), haemorrhage (RR 0.84; 95% CI 0.44 to 1.60), meconium-stained liquor (RR 1.20; 95% CI 0.65 to 2.23) and admission to nursery (RR 1.08; 95% CI 0.49 to 2.38) was found between users and non-users of herbal medicines for IOL.

Conclusions The findings suggest that herbal medicines for IOL are effective, but there is inconclusive evidence of safety due to lack of good quality data. Thus, the use of herbal medicines for IOL should be avoided until safety issues are clarified. More studies are recommended to establish the safety of herbal medicines.

  • herbal medicine
  • induction of labour
  • pregnancy outcomes
  • complementary and alternative medicine

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022499

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @czamawe

    • Contributors CZ, CK, HMJ and EF conceived the review. CZ and CM conducted the literature search, appraised the papers and extracted the data. CZ performed the analysis and drafted the manuscript. CK and EF commented on drafts and provided technical input at all stages. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding Collins Zamawe is a Commonwealth Scholar supported by the UK Government (CSC-2016-795).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement All data used in this review can be accessed from the corresponding author.