Singh Betsy B, Khorsan Raheleh, Vinjamury Sivarama Prasad, Der-Martirosian Claudia, Kizhakkeveettil Anupama, Anderson Tara M
International Clinical Research Associates, Richmond, USA.
J Asthma. 2007 Nov;44(9):685-98. doi: 10.1080/02770900701247202.
Asthma is a condition, often chronic, characterized by respiratory symptoms, variable airflow limitation and/or airway hyper-reactivity with symptoms causally related to family history, environmental influences, exposure to viruses and allergens as examples. The high economic burden associated with asthma is associated primarily with health care costs, missed work or school days. This systematic review was conducted to determine the study quality of articles investigating ayurvedic/collateral herbs, the effectiveness/efficacy and safety profile, as reported in the studies.
Literature searches were conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, Mantis, Ovid, Annotated Bibliography of Indian Medicine, and Cochrane library to identify published trials on herbal medicines for asthma of which Ayruvedic herbals are a subset. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and Quasi-Experimental Designs (QEDs) were included in this systematic review. The classic Jadad Scale, Singh RCT Scale with additional domains than Jadad, Safety Scoring Scale for clinical trials and the Singh QED Scale based on expanded features of QEDs were used to assess study quality. Herbs included in Traditional Chinese Medicine were excluded from this review. Forty-two articles were retrieved and 37 studies were ultimately reviewed utilizing 3 independent evaluators/1 arbitrator.
Articles reviewed indicated benefit from most of the herbs used either as a primary or adjunctive treatment for Asthma. Study quality was mixed and therefore caution in interpretation of findings of usefulness of these herbals must be suggested. Limited safety information was mixed and generally was related to GI symptoms, though one herbal investigated reported more serious side effects.
Herbs may be useful in treatment of asthma. There is insufficient evidence to make recommendations for or against the use of these herbals. Established effectiveness must be balanced with study quality and safety profile for the herb.
哮喘是一种通常为慢性的病症，其特征为呼吸道症状、可变的气流受限和/或气道高反应性，症状与家族病史、环境影响、接触病毒和过敏原等因素有因果关系。与哮喘相关的高昂经济负担主要与医疗费用、旷工或旷课天数有关。本系统评价旨在确定研究阿育吠陀/辅助草药治疗哮喘的文章的研究质量、有效性和安全性。
通过PubMed、EMBASE、Mantis、Ovid、《印度医学注释书目》和Cochrane图书馆进行文献检索，以识别关于草药治疗哮喘的已发表试验，其中阿育吠陀草药是一个子集。本系统评价纳入了随机对照试验（RCT）和准实验设计（QED）。使用经典的Jadad量表、比Jadad量表有更多领域的Singh RCT量表、临床试验安全评分量表以及基于QED扩展特征的Singh QED量表来评估研究质量。本评价排除了中医中包含的草药。检索到42篇文章，最终由3名独立评估人员/1名仲裁员对37项研究进行了评价。
所评价的文章表明，大多数用作哮喘主要治疗或辅助治疗的草药都有疗效。研究质量参差不齐，因此必须谨慎解读这些草药有效性的研究结果。有限的安全性信息也参差不齐，一般与胃肠道症状有关，不过有一种被研究的草药报告了更严重的副作用。
草药可能对哮喘治疗有用。没有足够的证据支持或反对使用这些草药。必须将已证实的有效性与草药的研究质量和安全性进行权衡。
