Chinese herbal medicines for hypothyroidism.
BACKGROUND
The reduced production of thyroid hormones is the main feature of the clinical state termed hypothyroidism. In Chinese philosophical and medical theory, it results from Yang deficiency. Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) are thought to restore Yang and have been used in China to treat hypothyroidism for many years.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of CHM for hypothyroidism.


METHODS
We searched The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database on Disc, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure for randomised clinical trials (RCTs). The date of the last search was September 2014 for all databases. We also searched for ongoing trials in trial registers.


METHODS
We considered RCTs of CHM alone or combined with thyroid hormone therapy compared with no treatment, placebo or thyroid hormone therapy. We also planned to compare different formulae of CHM with each other, alone or combined with thyroid hormone therapy. Hypothyroid individuals had to be diagnosed by the standard criteria valid at the time of the beginning of the trial regardless of the cause of hypothyroidism.


METHODS
Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were not performed because no study could be included.


RESULTS
We found no RCTs and therefore could not establish the effects of CHM on hypothyroidism.


CONCLUSIONS
Currently, there is no evidence available from RCTs on CHM for the treatment of hypothyroidism. We also did not find any ongoing registered trial.
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Lin-qiu
LQ
Ke
Ying
Y
Hu
Kun
K
Yang
Nanwei
N
Tong
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016711:Yang Deficiency / Q000188:drug therapy*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal