title: Chinese proprietary herbal medicine listed in 'China national essential drug list' for common cold: a systematic literature review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chinese proprietary herbal medicines (CPHMs) have long history in China for the treatment of common cold, and lots of them have been listed in the 'China national essential drug list' by the Chinese Ministry of Health. The aim of this review is to provide a well-round clinical evidence assessment on the potential benefits and harms of CPHMs for common cold based on a systematic literature search to justify their clinical use and recommendation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SinoMed, CNKI, VIP, China Important Conference Papers Database, China Dissertation Database, and online clinical trial registry websites from their inception to 31 March 2013 for clinical studies of CPHMs listed in the 'China national essential drug list' for common cold. There was no restriction on study design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 33 CPHMs were listed in 'China national essential drug list 2012' for the treatment of common cold but only 7 had supportive clinical evidences. A total of 6 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 7 case series (CSs) were included; no other study design was identified. All studies were conducted in China and published in Chinese between 1995 and 2012. All included studies had poor study design and methodological quality, and were graded as very low quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of CPHMs for common cold is not supported by robust evidence. Further rigorous well designed placebo-controlled, randomized trials are needed to substantiate the clinical claims made for CPHMs.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Primary care and population Sciences, Medical School, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lewith
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li-qiong
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wen-jing
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jian-ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003139:Common Cold / Q000188:drug therapy*; D062313:Databases, Pharmaceutical; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000145:classification* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D006801:Humans; D016239:MEDLINE; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal