Safety and Clinical Efficacy of Yangxue Qingnao Granules in the Treatment of Chronic Cerebral Circulation Insufficiency: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

To evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of Yangxue Qingnao (YXQN) granules in the treatment of chronic cerebral circulation insufficiency (CCCI), electronic databases—PubMed, Embase, CNKI, VIP, and Wangfang—were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to January 2019. GRADE and RevMan 5.3.0 were used for grading and analysis, respectively. Fifteen trials involving 1211 CCCI patients were included. Subgroup analysis was performed owing to study heterogeneity. Compared to nimodipine plus routine treatment, YXQN granules plus routine treatment were more effective in increasing basilar artery (BA) blood flow velocity (mean difference (MD) = 3.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [2.31, 4.37], P < 0.00001), vertebral artery (VA) blood flow velocity (MD = 0.52, 95% CI = [0.27, 0.76], P < 0.0001), and internal carotid artery (ICA) blood flow velocity (MD = 7.46, 95% CI = [2.01, 12.90], P=0.007). In improving the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and insomnia, YXQN granules plus routine treatment were shown to be superior to the following control treatments: nimodipine plus routine treatment (mean difference (M-H) = 4.21, 95% CI = [2.49, 7.12], P < 0.00001), flunarizine plus routine treatment (mean difference (M-H) = 3.92, 95% CI = [1.36, 11.29], P=0.01), troxerutin plus routine treatment (mean difference (M-H) = 4.79, 95% CI = [2.20, 10.42], P < 0.00001), and routine treatment (mean difference (M-H) = 6.13, 95% CI = [1.48, 25.34], P=0.01). Risk of bias was assessed in 15 trials. One analysis was graded using GRADE and showed poor results. Adverse events were not reported explicitly in all but one trial. Thus, this meta-analysis suggests that YXQN granules may be beneficial for patients with CCCI. However, owing to the poor quality of the clinical trials and small sample sizes, a definite conclusion on the efficacy and safety of YXQN granules cannot be drawn from existing information.