Syndrome differentiation in chinese herbal medicine for irritable bowel syndrome: a literature review of randomized trials.

ABSTRACT: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been commonly used for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Syndrome differentiation is one of the important characteristics of TCM. To assess the application and basic characteristics of syndrome differentiation in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese herbal medicine for IBS, we performed this paper. We conducted electronic searches in main Chinese and English databases till March 2012. A total of 735 RCTs involving 67,784 IBS participants were included. 224 (30.5%) studies applied syndrome differentiation. The major syndromes of IBS patients were the syndrome of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency (56.8%), spleen-stomach weakness (49.4%), spleen-kidney yang deficiency (48.1%), and cold and heat in complexity (29.6%). Herbal formulas were pre

SUBMITTER: Li Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3608279 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature