Efficacy of ginseng supplements on disease-related fatigue: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Ginseng has been believed to provide energy, physical health, and well-being to patients for hundreds of years. Fatigue is a multidimensional symptom with unknown etiology and varying severity, and lots of patients suffer from fatigue. METHODS: We search for research of ginseng treatment of disease-related fatigue in adult patients in Pubmed, Embase, Medline, and Cochrane library. Two independent reviewers assessed included studies and met to develop consensus on included studies. And we used Review Manager 5.3 software to evaluate the risk of bias. RESULTS: The present meta-analysis included 12 randomized controlled trial containing 1298 patients. In the fixed-effect meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trial, ginseng supplements had a statistically significant efficacy on disease-related fatigue reduction (standardized mean difference = 0.33, 95% confidence interval = 0.44–0.22). CONCLUSIONS: The use of ginseng supplements is benefit for patients to reduce disease-related fatigue.