Traditional Chinese medicine for septic patients undergoing ulinastatin therapy: A meta-analysis

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in septic patients treated with ulinastatin. METHODS: PubMed, EmBase, and the Cochrane library were searched up to January 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials. The weight mean difference (WMD) and relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals were used with the random-effects model. RESULTS: Twenty-three randomized controlled trials with 1903 septic patients were included. TCM significantly reduced the APACHE II score (WMD: −5.18; P < .001), interleukin-6 (WMD: −63.00; P < .001), tumor necrosis factor-α (WMD: −8.86; P < .001), c-reactive protein (WMD: −9.47; P < .001), mechanical ventilation duration (WMD: −3.98; P < .001), intensive care unit stay (WMD: −4.18; P < .001), procalcitonin (WMD: −0.53; P < .001), lipopolysaccharide (WMD: −9.69; P < .001), B-type natriuretic peptide (WMD: −159.87; P < .001), creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (WMD: −45.67; P < .001), cardiac troponin I (WMD: −0.66; P < .001), and all-cause mortality risk (RR: 0.55; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: TCM lowers inflammation levels and reduces the risk of all-cause mortality for septic patients.