Risk associated with bee venom therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The safety of bee venom as a therapeutic compound has been extensively studied, resulting in the identification of potential adverse events, which range from trivial skin reactions that usually resolve over several days to life-threating severe immunological responses such as anaphylaxis. In this systematic review, we provide a summary of the types and prevalence of adverse events associated with bee venom therapy.

Methods

We searched the literature using 12 databases from their inception to June 2014, without language restrictions. We included all types of clinical studies in which bee venom was used as a key intervention and adverse events that may have been causally related to bee venom therapy were reported.

Results

A total of 145 studies, including 20 r

SUBMITTER: Park JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4440710 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature