The effects of gastrodin injection on hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a common chronic disease and poses a huge burden to health care systems. Recent studies have shown that gastrodin injection (GI) has a potential supplementary therapeutic effect on hypertension. OBJECTIVES: To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of GI in treatment of hypertension. METHODS: Systematic search was conducted on 7 databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Wanfang database, China biomedical literature service system, VIP Chinese Sci-tech journal database and China national knowledge internet). The retrieval time was from the establishment of database to February 15, 2020. Two researchers independently selected literature, extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias in the study. The methodological quality was evaluated with Cochrane handbook. The meta-analysis was performed with Stata 14.0 software. RESULTS: Thirteen studies were included in this study involving 1525 patients. Compared with using conventional therapy alone, GI combined with conventional therapy can decrease systolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference [WMD] −6.67, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −10.30, −3.04. number of estimates [k] = 9, I(2) = 89.3%), diastolic blood pressure (WMD −4.52, 95% CI: −7.79, −1.26. k = 9, I(2) = 92.3%), and improve the clinical efficacy (relative risk [RR] 1.18, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.26. k = 6, I(2) = 12.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The current evidence showed that GI combined with conventional therapy can improve systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and clinical efficacy. GI can become a supplementary treatment for hypertension.