Acupoint herbal patching during Sanfu Days on reducing frequency of acute asthma attack in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: Acupoint herbal patching (AHP) is an external therapy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to evaluate whether AHP during Sanfu Days has additional benefits in children with asthma. METHODS: A comprehensively electronic literature search was performed in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CNKI, VIP, and WanFang databases from their inception to March 2019. Randomized controlled trials that evaluated the AHP during Sanfu Days treatment for pediatric asthma were included. The main outcome measures were frequency of acute asthma attack, relapse of asthma, and pulmonary function. RESULTS: Eleven trials involving 882 children with asthma were identified. White mustard seed, rhizoma corydalis, and radix kansui were the most frequently used herbs. Adjunctive treatment with AHP significantly reduced the frequency of acute asthma attack (mean difference [MD] −1.62 times/year; 95% confidence intervals [CI] −2.13 to –1.11). Moreover, AHP improved the peak expiratory flow (standardized mean differences [SMD] 0.61; 95% CI 0.39–0.82) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (SMD 0.48; 95% CI 0.31–0.66). CONCLUSIONS: Application of AHP during Sanfu Days has additional benefits in reducing the frequency of acute attack and improving pulmonary function in children with asthma. However, the current findings should be interpreted with caution owing to the methodological flaws of the analyzed trials.