Efficacy and side effects of chinese herbal medicine for menopausal symptoms: a critical review.
This study evaluates 23 (9 Chinese and 14 non-Chinese) randomized controlled trials for efficacy and side effects of Chinese herbal medicine on menopausal symptoms. Menopause was diagnosed according to western medicine criteria in all studies while seven Chinese studies and one non-Chinese study further stratified the participants using traditional Chinese medical diagnosis "Zheng differentiation." Efficacy was reported by all 9 Chinese and 9/14 non-Chinese papers. Side effects and adverse events were generally mild and infrequent. Only ten severe adverse events were reported, two with possible association with the therapy. CHM did not increase the endometrial thickness, a common side effect of hormone therapy. None of the studies investigated long-term side effects. Critical analysis revealed that (1) high-quality studies on efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine for menopausal syndrome are rare and have the drawback of lacking traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis (Zheng-differentiation). (2) Chinese herbal medicine may be effective for at least some menopausal symptoms while side effects are likely less than hormone therapy. (3) All these findings need to be confirmed in further well-designed comprehensive studies meeting the standard of evidence-based medicine and including Zheng-differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine.
Gynecology Department, Yueyang Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Hospital of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China ; HanseMerkur Traditional Chinese Medicine Centre, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
Lian-Wei
LW
Xu
Man
M
Jia
Roland
R
Salchow
Michael
M
Kentsch
Xue-Jun
XJ
Cui
Hong-Yong
HY
Deng
Zhuo-Jun
ZJ
Sun
Lan
L
Kluwe