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Comment
. 2015 Feb 10;313(6):618-9.
doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.17145.

Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold

Marlies Karsch-Völk  1 , Bruce Barrett  2 , Klaus Linde  1
Affiliations
Comment

Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold

Marlies Karsch-Völk et al. JAMA. .

Abstract

Clinical question: Are Echinacea products associated with a reduced incidence and a shorter duration of common colds compared with placebo?

Bottom line: Individual prophylaxis trials show no association with prevention of the common cold, but exploratory meta-analysis suggests that Echinacea products may be associated with a small reduction in cold incidence. In treatment trials, there was no association of Echinacea products with a shorter duration of colds.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Drs Linde and Karsch-Völk report being regular staff members of the Institute of General Practice, Technische Universität München. Dr Barrett reports receiving support from a K24 Mid-Career Investigator Award from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the US National Institutes of Health. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure
Figure. Risk Ratios for Participants With at Least One Cold Episode In the Prevention Trials
Source: Data have been adapted with permission from Wiley. The analysis includes 9 trials with 12 comparisons of an Echinacea product and placebo with a total of 1167 patients. Melchart, 1998, compared 2 distinct Echinacea products and Turner, 2005, 3 distinct Echinacea products with a placebo group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold.
    Karsch-Völk M, Barrett B, Kiefer D, Bauer R, Ardjomand-Woelkart K, Linde K. Karsch-Völk M, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Feb 20;2014(2):CD000530. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000530.pub3. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014. PMID: 24554461 Free PMC article.

References

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    1. Karsch-Völk M, Barrett B, Kiefer D, Bauer R, Ardjomand-Woelkart K, Linde K. Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;2:CD000530. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pratter MR. Cough and the common cold: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. Chest. 2006;129(1 suppl):72S–74S. - PMC - PubMed
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