The influence of Chinese herbal medicines on cancer‐related pressure ulcer wound, fatigue, constipation, and anorexia: A meta‐analysis

We performed a meta‐analysis to evaluate the influence of Chinese herbal medicines on cancer‐related pressure ulcer wounds, fatigue, constipation, and anorexia. A systematic literature search up to March 2022 was done and 25 studies included 1777 subjects with cancer‐related symptoms at the start of the study; 953 of them were provided with Chinese herbal medicines and 824 were control. They were reporting relationships about the influence of Chinese herbal medicines on cancer‐related pressure ulcer wounds, fatigue, constipation, and anorexia. We calculated the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the influence of Chinese herbal medicines on cancer‐related pressure ulcer wounds, fatigue, constipation, and anorexia using the dichotomous method with a random or fixed‐effect model. Chinese herbal medicines had significantly higher effectiveness in treating pressure ulcer wound (OR, 5.94; 95% CI, 3.94‐8.95, P < .001), fatigue (OR, 2.81; 95% CI, 1.78‐4.41, P < .001), and effectiveness on treating constipation (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.57‐4.25, P < .001) compared to control in subjects with cancer‐related symptoms. However, Chinese herbal medicines had no significant effect on treating anorexia (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 0.61‐4.66, P = .31) compared to control in subjects with cancer‐related symptoms. Chinese herbal medicines had significantly higher effectiveness in treating pressure ulcer wound, treating pressure ulcer wound, fatigue, and constipation compared to control in subjects with cancer‐related symptoms. However, Chinese herbal medicines had no significant effect on the effectiveness of treating anorexia compared to control in subjects with cancer‐related symptoms. Further studies are required to validate these findings.