Characteristics of the participants in the 119 randomised controlled trials included in our analysis (n=18 919, ranging from 30 to 3789 patients per trial)
| Characteristic | No. of patients (%) |
|---|---|
| Weighted mean age ± weighted SD | 43.5±12.0 years |
| Female | 13 697 (72.4) |
| Eligibility criteria | |
| ACR RA alone | 8994 (47.5) |
| ACR RA+1 TCM syndrome* | 3040 (16.1) |
| ACR RA+2 TCM syndromes* | 332 (1.8) |
| ACR RA+≥3 TCM syndromes* | 1072 (5.7) |
| ACR RA+unspecified number TCM syndromes* | 300 (1.6) |
| ACR RA+TCM syndrome (not guideline driven) | 5181 (27.4) |
| Median disease duration (range) | 5.4 years (0.04–28 years) |
| Interventions | |
| CHM alone | 10 108 (53.4) |
| CHM+DMARDs | 1595 (8.4) |
| CHM+DMARDs+NSAIDs | 511 (2.7) |
| CHM+DMARDs+steroids+NSAIDs | 79 (0.4) |
| CHM+steroids | 501 (2.6) |
| CHM+steroids+NSAIDs | 200 (1.1) |
| CHM+NSAIDs | 2101 (11.1) |
| CHM+NSAIDs+antibiotic | 74 (0.4) |
| DMARDs alone | 1402 (7.4) |
| DMARDs+steroids | 78 (0.4) |
| DMARDs+steroids+NSAIDs | 363 (1.9) |
| DMARDs+NSAIDs | 992 (5.2) |
| NSAIDs+antibiotic | 56 (0.3) |
| NSAIDs alone | 644 (3.4) |
| Antibiotic† | 50 (0.3) |
| Placebo alone | 165 (0.9) |
| Previous WM treatment‡ | 8518 (45.0) |
| Most common patterns reported§ | |
| Dampness-heat blockage | 1023 (10.3) |
| Dampness-cold and qi deficiency-blood stasis | 557 (5.6) |
| Heat-cold complex | 512 (5.2) |
| Dampness-cold blockage | 300 (3.0) |
| Dampness-heat and qi deficiency-blood stasis | 269 (2.7) |
| Qi deficiency and blood stasis | 226 (2.3) |
| Yin deficiency | 178 (1.8) |
*Chinese medical syndrome following governmental guidelines.
†Penicillin.
‡Only 49 studies reported data.
§Percentages are based on the 46 studies in which eligibility criteria included diagnosis with at least 1 TCM syndrome (n=9925).
ACR RA, American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis; CHM, Chinese herbal medicine; DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; TCM syndrome, traditional Chinese medicine syndrome; WM, western medicine.