Is the traditional Chinese medicine helpful for patients with hematologic malignant diseases? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Table 27 Summary of findings of the overall response and complete response outcomes

Outcomes	Illustrative comparative risks1 (95%CI)		Relative effect	No. of participants	Quality of the evidence	Comments
	Assumed risk	Corresponding risk	(95%CI)	(studies)	(GRADE)
	Control	Overall response rate
Overall response rate	Study population		RR = 1.14	974	++--
	761 per 1000	867 per 1000 (784-959)	(1.03-1.26)	(12 studies)	Low
	Moderate
	775 per 1000	883 per 1000 (798-976)
Complete response rate	Study population		RR = 1.21	974	++--
	579 per 1000	701 per 1000 (579-846)	(1-1.46)	(12 studies)	Low23
	Moderate
	579 per 1000	701 per 1000 (579-845)
Overall response rate for malignant hematologic disease
Patient or population: Patients with malignant hematologic disease
Settings:
Intervention: Overall response rate

¹The basis for the assumed risk (e.g., the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95%CI) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95%CI);

²Not all studies included were high quality randomized controlled trial;

³Most studies showed better effect when traditional Chinese medicine was added while some studies did not show statistically significant better effect. GRADE Working Group grades of evidence. High quality: Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect; Moderate quality: Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate; Low quality: Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate; Very low quality: We are very uncertain about the estimate.