• Yufen Cai, Xiaofang He, Liting Ao, Yibo Liu, Yanju Zhang, Hui Yang, and Lin Zhang.
• Guilin Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangxi, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Oct 25; 103 (43): e39942e39942.

BackgroundUsing wind-quenching and phlegm-resolving (WQPR) therapy for epilepsy has yielded beneficial results in various clinical studies. However, a comprehensive analysis of the WQPR approach to epilepsy has not yet conducted to date. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the WQPR method in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for epilepsy.MethodsEight databases, including The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), and WanFang Database, were comprehensively searched to include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the WQPR approach in epilepsy. Quality was evaluated by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, and meta-analysis was conducted using the RevMan 5.4 and Stata 14.0 software. For the outcome indicators with the number of studies ≥ 10, funnel chart and Egger test were used to evaluate the bias, and the evidence quality was evaluated according to GRADEpro system.ResultsWe included 19 randomized controlled trials with 1475 participants. Compared to the control group, the WQPR approach showed clinical efficacy for epilepsy (odds ratio = 3.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.19, 4.77], Z = 5.90, P < .00001), reduced seizure frequency (standardized mean differences = -1.24, 95% CI [-1.62, -0.85], Z = 6.26, P < .00001), shortened seizure duration (standardized mean differences = -2.07, 95% CI [-2.99, -1.14], Z = 4.39, P < .0001), improved patient's quality of life (mean difference = 2.60, 95% CI [2.16, 3.03], Z = 11.62, P < .00001), and ameliorated TCM syndromes (mean difference = -4.37, 95% CI [-6.19, -2.56], Z = 4.72, P < .00001). The reduced rate of adverse reactions (odds ratio = 0.56, 95% CI [0.37, 0.85], Z = 2.71, P = .007).ConclusionWQPR therapy appears to be an effective and safe approach for treating epilepsy, increasing clinical efficacy, reducing seizures' frequency and duration, improving patients' quality of life, ameliorating TCM syndromes, and reducing adverse reaction rates.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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