Research - Tic Disorders
Herbal medicines for treating tic disorders: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials
Yun Hee Kim1,†Email: [email protected] Chang-Gue Son2,†Email: [email protected] Bon-Cho Ku1Email: [email protected] Hye Won Lee1Email: [email protected] Hyun Sook Lim3Email: [email protected] Myeong Soo Lee1,4,*Email: [email protected]
1 Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea
2 Liver & Immunology Research Center, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon, South Korea 3 Department of Nursing, Howon University, Kunsan, South Korea 4 Medical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 305-811, South Korea
Abstract
Background
It was reported that 64% of tic disorder patients used complementary and alternative medicine. This review aims to evaluate the efficacy of herbal medicines in treating tic disorders.
Methods
We searched eight databases including MEDLINE and CINAHL from their respective inceptions up to September 2013. The search terms were related to the concept of “herbal medicine” AND “tic disorder OR Tourette’s syndrome”. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of any type of herbal medicines. We assessed the methodological quality of the trials according to the Cochrane risk of bias criteria.
Results
Sixty one studies were identified, and four RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Two types of herbal medicines, Qufeng Zhidong Recipe (QZR) decoction and Ningdong (ND) granules, were used in the included RCTs. All four RCTs had a high risk of bias. Two RCTs tested the effects of QZR on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) score and response rate compared with conventional medicine. The meta-analysis showed significant effects of QZR on the YGTSS score with high statistical heterogeneity (n = 142; weighted mean difference: −18.34; 95% confidence interval (CI): −23.07 to −13.60; I2 = 97%) and the response rate (n = 142; risk ratio: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.39 to 2.06; I2 = 0%). One RCT compared ND granules with placebo and showed significant effects on the YGTSS score and response rate. The other RCT show significant effects of ND granules plus conventional medicine on the response rate compared with conventional medicine only.
Conclusion
This systematic review provided first piece of limited meta-analytic evidence for the effectiveness of herbal medicines in improving the symptoms of tic disorders
...Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review of the effects of herbal medicines for tic disorders. The results suggested that QZR and ND granules were effective in treating tic disorders or Tourette’s syndrome. However, the evidence suggesting that QZR and ND granules represented an effective modality for treating tic disorders or Tourette’s syndrome was limited by small number of trials and the high risk of bias in primary trials
Source : Chinese Medicine Journal
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