title: Oral Chinese herbal medicine versus placebo for psoriasis vulgaris: A systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder and the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) treatments is unclear. This review evaluates oral CHM for psoriasis vulgaris clinical trial evidence.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, CBM, CNKI, CQVIP and Wanfang databases were searched from inception to June 2015. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of oral CHM compared to placebo data were included and analysed using Review Manager 5.2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven studies were included, no study utilised identical CHM intervention. Four studies data were subgrouped (decoction or capsule/pill) and pooled in meta-analysis to evaluate treatment effective rate for PASI60 or above (RR: 2.74 [0.92, 8.21] I2=65%). Another five studies were subgrouped and evaluated for PASI score change, (MD -7.00 [-10.74, -3.27] I2=98%). Only one study presented Dermatology Life Quality Index data, which favoured CHM (MD: -4.08 [-7.56, -0.60]). Two studies presented data on psoriasis-related inflammatory cell-signalling protein tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) (MD: -4.92 [-5.31, -4.53]). No serious adverse events were reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While CHMs appear to be safe and may have benefit for psoriasis, variation between CHM interventions, outcome measures and the quality of included studies limit the conclusions of this review. Further rigorous RCTs utilising reliable, validated symptom and QoL outcome measures are recommended.
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.
authors.forename: Shefton
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.
authors.forename: Claire Shuiqing
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.|b Guangdong Provincial Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Jason Jingjie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.|b Guangdong Provincial Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine , Guangzhou , China.|c Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Chuanjian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony Lin
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a School of Health and Biomedical Sciences , China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine, RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.|b Guangdong Provincial Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Charlie C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Xue
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: Psoriasis; control; herb; random; review; trial