Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Clinical Efficacy and Adverse Effects of Zhengqing Fengtongning Combined with Methotrexate in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Chinese medicines are gaining wider acceptance. They have been used for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for thousands of years, and the need to investigate the interaction between Chinese medicines and western medicines is widely recognized. In this study, a large number of RCTs and CCTs were analyzed to systematically assess the effects and adverse events of Zhengqing Fengtongning (ZQFTN) for RA. Eleven studies that contained 956 participants (508 in the treatment group; 448 in the control group) were included. The results showed that although ZQFTN combined with methotrexate MTX could not decrease the swollen joint count and tender joint count of RA patients better than MTX alone, the combination therapy might relieve the duration of morning stiffness (SMD: −16.06; 95% CI: −28.77 to −3.34), reduce laboratory indexes (RF: SMD: −10.84; 95% CI: −19.39 to −2.29; ESR: SMD: −7.26; 95% CI: −11.54 to −2.99; CRP: SMD: −3.66; 95% CI: −5.94 to −1.38), and improve the overall effect (RR: 1.08; CI: 1.01 to 1.16) better than monotherapy. The combination therapy was significantly better in controlling adverse drug reactions (RR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.46 to 0.79). Through this systematic review, we found that ZQFTN combined with MTX for the treatment of RA might have better clinical efficacy than MTX only and might be superior in terms of controlling adverse drug reactions.