title: Treatment of constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome by focusing on the liver in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome by focusing on the liver.
  
  
  METHODS
  Databases (domestic and foreign) were searched with the key words "irritable bowel syndrome'", "constipation", and "Chinese medicine"; the relevant articles were retrieved and evaluated. Cure rate, "remarkable efficacy", recurrence rate and the incidence of adverse reactions were the outcome indicators. Review Manager ver 5.1 was used for this meta-analysis, and funnel plots used to deted publication bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nineteen randomized controlled trials were included and 1510 patients involved. The treatment guided byTCM based on the liver was superior to Western Medicine [odds ratio (OR) = 2.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.80, 3.35)], cure rate [OR = 2.61, 95% Cl (1.93, 3.52)], remarkable efficacy [OR = 2.68, 95% Cl (1.82, 3.95)], recurrence rate [OR = 0.19, 95% CI (0.12, 0.29)] and the incidence of adverse reactions [OR = 0.24, 95% CI (0.09, 0.65)]. However, funnel plots showed publication bias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with Western Medicine, the treatment of IBS-C based on the liver is significantly better but the results must be treated with caution because publication bias was recorded.
authors.forename: Qianwen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Fengbin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhengkun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D003248:Constipation / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008099:Liver / Q000503:physiopathology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal