Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2015 Mar 10;10(3):e0118498.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118498. eCollection 2015.

Effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine as an adjunct therapy for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Guoxin Zhang  1 , Nian Xiong  1 , Zhentao Zhang  2 , Ling Liu  1 , Jinsha Huang  1 , Jiaolong Yang  1 , Jing Wu  3 , Zhicheng Lin  4 , Tao Wang  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine as an adjunct therapy for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Guoxin Zhang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease that seriously hinders limb activities and affects patients' lives. We performed a meta-analysis aiming to systematically review and quantitatively synthesize the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as an adjunct therapy for clinical PD patients.

Methods: An electronic search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journals Database and Wanfang data to identify randomized trials evaluating TCM adjuvant therapy versus conventional treatment. The change from baseline of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score (UPDRS) was used to estimate the effectiveness of the therapies.

Results: Twenty-seven articles involving 2314 patients from 1999 to 2013 were included. Potentially marked improvements were shown in UPDRS I (SMD 0.68, 95%CI 0.38, 0.98), II (WMD 2.41, 95%CI 1.66, 2.62), III (WMD 2.45, 95%CI 2.03, 2.86), IV (WMD 0.32, 95%CI 0.15, 049) and I-IV total scores (WMD 6.18, 95%CI 5.06, 7.31) in patients with TCM plus dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) compared to DRT alone. Acupuncture add-on therapy was markedly beneficial for improving the UPDRS I-IV total score of PD patients (WMD 10.96, 95%CI 5.85, 16.07). However, TCM monotherapy did not improve the score. The effectiveness seemed to be more obvious in PD patients with longer adjunct durations. TCM adjuvant therapy was generally safe and well tolerated.

Conclusions: Although the data were limited by methodological flaws in many studies, the evidence indicates the potential superiority of TCM as an alternative therapeutic for PD treatment and justifies further high-quality studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow diagram for process of identifying eligible randomized controlled trials.
RCT: randomized controlled trials; TCM: Traditional Chinese Medicine; H&Y: Hoehn & Yahr.
Fig 2
Fig 2. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: UPDRS I score.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. NO.1: Pabing Recipe I; NO.3: Pabing Recipe III. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
Fig 3
Fig 3. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: UPDRS II score.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. NO.1: Pabing Recipe I; NO.3: Pabing Recipe III; *: H&Y stages 4 with Madopar-taking history; #: H&Y stages 1–3 with Madopar-taking history. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
Fig 4
Fig 4. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: UPDRS III score.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. NO.1: Pabing Recipe I; NO.3: Pabing Recipe III; *: H&Y stages 4 with Madopar-taking history; #: H&Y stages 1–3 with Madopar-taking history. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
Fig 5
Fig 5. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: UPDRS IV score.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. NO.1: Pabing Recipe I; NO.3: Pabing Recipe III. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
Fig 6
Fig 6. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: UPDRS I-IV total score.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. NO.1: Pabing Recipe I; NO.3: Pabing Recipe III; *: H&Y stages 4 with Madopar-taking history; #: H&Y stages 1–3 with Madopar-taking history. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
Fig 7
Fig 7. TCM plus western drugs VS. western therapy alone: Side Effect.
(A) Forest plot of comparison. (B) Funnel plot of comparison.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Chaudhuri KR, Schapira AH. Non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease: dopaminergic pathophysiology and treatment. Lancet Neurol. 2009; 8: 464–474. 10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70068-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yuan H, Zhang ZW, Liang LW, Shen Q, Wang XD, Ren SM, et al. Treatment strategies for Parkinson's disease. Neurosci Bull. 2010; 26: 66–76. 10.1007/s12264-010-0302-z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang ZX, Roman GC, Hong Z, Wu CB, Qu QM, Huang JB, et al. Parkinson's disease in China: prevalence in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. Lancet. 2005; 365: 595–597. - PubMed
    1. Lohle M, Reichmann H. Clinical neuroprotection in Parkinson's disease—still waiting for the breakthrough. J Neurol Sci. 2010; 289: 104–114. 10.1016/j.jns.2009.08.025 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cao XB, Guan Q, Xu Y, Wang L, Sun SG. Mechanism of over-activation in direct pathway mediated by dopamine D(1) receptor in rats with levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Neurosci Bull. 2006; 22: 159–164. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances