This study aims to explore the efficacy and safety of Lianhua Qingwen preparations combined with
Oseltamivir in the treatment of
influenza patients. PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase, SinoMed, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP were searched for the randomized controlled trials(RCTs) involving the comparison between the
influenza patients treated with Lianhua Qingwen preparations combined with
Oseltamivir and those treated with
Oseltamivir alone.
Fever clearance time was taken as the primary outcome
indicator. Clinical effective rate(markedly effective and effective), time to
muscle pain relief, time to
sore throat relief, time to
cough relief, time to nasal congestion and
runny nose relief, time to negative result of viral
nucleic acid test, and adverse reactions were taken as the secondary outcome indicators. The data were extracted based on the outcome indicators and then combined. The Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias was used to evaluate the quality of a single RCT, and the grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluations(GRADE) system to assess the quality of a single outcome
indicator. RevMan 5.3 was employed to analyze data and test heterogeneity. Finally, 16 RCTs involving 1 629 patients were included for analysis. The Meta-analysis showed that Lianhua Qingwen preparations combined with
Oseltamivir was superior to
Oseltamivir alone in the treatment of
influenza in terms of clinical effective rate(RR=1.16, 95%CI [1.12, 1.20], P<0.000 01),
fever clearance time(SMD=-2.02, 95%CI [-2.62,-1.41], P<0.000 01), time to
muscle pain relief(SMD=-2.50, 95%CI [-3.84,-1.16], P=0.000 2), time to
sore throat relief(SMD=-1.40, 95%CI [-1.93,-0.85], P<0.000 01), time to
cough relief(SMD=-1.81, 95%CI [-2.44,-1.19], P<0.000 01), time to nasal congestion and
runny nose(SMD=-2.31, 95%CI [-3.61,-1.01], P=0.000 5), and time to negative result of viral
nucleic acid test(SMD=-0.68, 95%CI [-1.19,-0.16], P=0.01). However, due to the low quality of the trials, the above conclusions need to be proved by more high-quality clinical studies. In addition, we still need to attach importance to the adverse reactions of the integrated application of Chinese and western medicines.