Efficacy and Safety of Gegen Qinlian Decoction for Pediatric Diarrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Gegen Qinlian decoction in the treatment of pediatric diarrhea. Methods. A search for relevant RCTs was performed from which a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. This meta-analysis was registered at INPLASY (reference number ID: INPLASY202180105). Results. (1) Eleven trials involving 1126 patients were included in the meta-analysis. (2) Two trials recorded the adverse events. (3) The meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, the experimental group has a significantly shorter duration of diarrhea in children (MD = −18.64, 95% CI (−23.76, −13.52), $P<0.00001$ ), duration of fever (MD = −19.43, 95% CI (−25.76, −13.11), $P<0.00001$ ), duration of vomiting [MD = −22.51, 95% CI (−29.92, −15.09), $P<0.00001$ ], duration of correcting dehydration (MD = −23.35, 95% CI (−35.48, −11.22), $P=0.0002$ ), and the effective rate (OR = 4.64, 95% CI (3.12, 6.90), $P<0.00001$ ). Conclusion. There were significant differences in the clinical efficacy in the treatment of pediatric diarrhea between the experimental and control groups. Thus, Gegen Qinlian decoction may have certain advantages in the treatment of pediatric diarrhea. In addition, we conclude the following: (1) the application of Gegen Qinlian decoction to treat this disease is recommended for >5 days. (2) We recommend conducting multicenter RCTs to avoid the impact of regional differences on the results. (3) We recommend using the unmodified Gegen Qinlian decoction, which may have better efficacy.