Table 4 Systematic reviews of clinical trials of herbal medicines
From: Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine
Features | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Author | Indication | Intervention | Comparisons | Studies | 1/2/3/ | Results | Author's Conclusion |
Year | 4/5 | ||||||
Vogler 99 | various | aloe | placebo, other | 6 RCT,4 | y/y/y/ | Positive results for genital | Promising results, but overall |
[54] | & no treatment | CCT | y/n | herpes, psoriasis, hyper- | evidence insufficient | ||
lipidemia, diabetes; | |||||||
contradictory for wound healing | |||||||
Pittler 98 | cholesterol | artichoke | placebo | 1 RCT | y/y/y/ | Effects over placebo only in the | More trials needed |
[55] | lowering | leave | n/n | subgroup of participants with | |||
extract | serum cholesterol > 210 mg/dl | ||||||
Morse 89 | atopic | evening | placebo | 9 | ?/n/n/ | Epogam significantly better | No conclusion drawn |
[56] | eczema | primrose oil | RCT/CCT | y/y | than placebo for most | ||
(Epogam) | outcomes | ||||||
Vogler 98 | migraine | feverfew | placebo | 5 RCT | y/y/y/ | Majority of trials favor feverfew | Effectiveness has not been |
[57] | y/n | over placebo | established beyond reasonable | ||||
doubt | |||||||
Ernst 2000 | nausea and | ginger root | placebo, | 6 RCT | y/y/y/ | 2 of 3 trials on postoperative | Evidence promising but insufficient |
[58] | vomiting | metoclopramide | y/p | nausea positive (best | to draw firm conclusions | ||
negative), trials on | |||||||
seasickness, morning sickness | |||||||
and chemotherapy-induced | |||||||
nausea positive | |||||||
Vogler 99 | various | ginseng root | placebo, other | 16 RCT | y/p/y/ | Contradictory results re. | The efficacy of ginseng root extract |
[59] | extract | treatment (1 | y/n | physical performance (7 trials), | is not established beyond | ||
trial) | psychological function (5), | reasonable doubt for any of these | |||||
immunomodulation (2), | indications | ||||||
positive results in diabetes and | |||||||
herpes simplex (1 trial | |||||||
respectively) | |||||||
Pittler 98 | venous | horse | placebo, other | 13 RCT | y/y/y/ | Significant effects over placebo | horse chestnut seeds seem to be |
[60] | insufficieny | chestnut | treatment | y/n | and similar effects compared to | effective; further tials needed | |
seeds | other treatments | (confirmation, long-term results, | |||||
combination) | |||||||
Pittler 2000 | anxiety | kava | placebo | 7 RCT | y/y/y/ | All trials suggest superiority | Available data suggest that kava is |
[61] | p/p | over placebo; 3 trials with data | a treatment option for anxiety. | ||||
for meta-analysis show sign. | Further studies needed | ||||||
superiority | |||||||
Lawrence | liver | milk thistle | placebo, other | 33 RCT, | y/y/y/ | Variety of conditions studied, | Efficacy is not established. |
2000 [62] | diseases | & no treatment | 1 CCT | y/y | studies often poor quality. | Possible benefit shown most | |
Mixed and inconsistent findings | frequently for aminotransferases. | ||||||
Ernst 99 | musculoskel. | Phytodolor® | placebo, other | 10 RCT | y/p/y/ | Placebo-controlled trials show | The data suggest that the |
[63] | pain | populus, | treatments | y/n | superiority over placebo and | combination is effective in the | |
fraxinus, | similar effects as NSAIDs | symptomatic treatment of | |||||
solidago | muskuloskeletal pain | ||||||
MacDonald | ben. prostata | rye grass | placebo, other | 4 RCT | y/y/y/ | Signif. improvement over | Available evidence suggests that |
2000 & | hyperplasia | pollen | therapy | y/y | placebo in subjective, but not | Cernilton® is well tolerated and | |
Wilt 2000 | extract | objective symptoms; no | modestly improves subjective | ||||
differences compared to | symptoms. Further studies needed | ||||||
tadenan and paraprost | |||||||
Ernst 2000 | dermatologic | tea trea oil | placebo, other | 4 RCT | y/y/y/ | 2 trials vs. placebo positive, 3 | Data promising but insufficient |
[66] | conditions | treatment | y/n | trials vs. other treatments | |||
similar effects | |||||||
Stevinson | insomnia | valerian root | placebo | 9 RCT | y/y/y/ | Highly heterogeneous studies | Available evidence is promising but |
2000 [67] | y/n | with sometimes contradictory | not fully conclusive. Further, | ||||
and inconsistent findings | rigorous trials needed | ||||||
Renfrew | breast | cabbage | usual care | 1 RCT | y/y/n/ | fewer women stopping breast | Further research desirable |
84 [68] | engorgement | leaves | y/n | feeding among those receiving | |||
cabbage leaves | |||||||
Armstrong | atopic | Chinese | placebo | 2 RCT | y/y/n/ | 2 positive studies by the same | Evidence encouraging but |
99 [69] | eczema | herbal | y/n | insufficient given the potential of | |||
therapy | treat analysis | relevant side effects | |||||
Ernst 97 | hypoglyc. | all plants | no treatment, | 7 RCT, 4 | y/p/n/ | Most studies low quality. Most | Use of hypoglcemic plant remedies |
[70] | activity | placebo, none | CCT, 10 | y/n | papers report positive effects | not supported by rigorous | |
UCS | on a variety of plants | research. Further studies required | |||||
Ernst 2000 | analgetic or | various | placebo | 18 RCT | y/y/y/ | Trials on evening primrose oil, | The results suggest that several |
[71] | inflamm. | y/n | blackcurrant seed oil, borage | herbal remedies have potential in | |||
treatment | oil, harpagophytum, willow | alleviating the pain of rheumatic | |||||
bark, feverfew, and 3 | diseases. More research urgently | ||||||
combinations; almost all trials | needed | ||||||
positive |