Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2025; 13(6): 95513
Published online Feb 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i6.95513
Efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine for patients with rheumatic immune diseases
Hang Shu, Xiao-Yu Chen, Jie Zhao, Pin Li, Zhen Sun
Hang Shu, Jie Zhao, Pin Li, Zhen Sun, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou Special Service Recuperation Center of Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu Province, China
Xiao-Yu Chen, Department of Convalescence, Hangzhou Special Service Recuperation Center of Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Shu H and Sun Z designed this study; Chen XY, Zhao J, and Li P conducted data extraction, quality assessment, statistical analysis, and decision analysis; Shu H wrote the first draft; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhen Sun, Doctor, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou Special Service Recuperation Center of Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, No. 5 Wenquan Road, Tangshan Street, Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu Province, China. 17768612617@163.com
Received: April 11, 2024
Revised: October 3, 2024
Accepted: November 7, 2024
Published online: February 26, 2025
Processing time: 227 Days and 19.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Rheumatic immune diseases are a group of chronic inflammatory diseases characterized by joint and systemic multi-organ involvement, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Sjogren’s syndrome, among others. The pathogenesis of these diseases is related to the abnormal activation and regulatory imbalance of the immune system. The prevalence and morbidity of rheumatic immune diseases are high, imposing a significant burden on patients' quality of life and socio-economic costs. Currently, the treatment of rheumatic immune diseases mainly relies on Western medicine, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticoids, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, and biologics. However, the therapeutic effects of Western medicine are not ideal, some patients poorly respond or are resistant to Western medicine, and long-term use often causes various adverse reactions.

AIM

To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine in the treatment of patients with rheumatic immune diseases.

METHODS

This study conducted a meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine for patients with rheumatic immune diseases. Chinese and English databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the treatment of rheumatic immune diseases with Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software.

RESULTS

The meta-analysis included 11 RCTs involving 1026 patients with rheumatic immune diseases. The combined treatment significantly reduced the risk of disease recurrence (relative risk = 1.07, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.15, P < 0.05) and showed no significant heterogeneity (I2 = 0%, P = 0.53), indicating that Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine is an effective method to reduce the possibility of postoperative recurrence in patients with rheumatic immune diseases. However, due to the limited number and quality of the studies included, these results should be interpreted with caution.

CONCLUSION

Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides tablets combined with Western medicine is an effective and safe treatment option for patients with rheumatic immune diseases and can be considered a clinical choice. However, more high-quality research is needed to validate this conclusion and provide more solid evidence for clinical practice.

Keywords: Rheumatic immune diseases; Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycosides tablets; Western medicine treatment; Systematic review; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: The safety and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine still need to be evaluated by scientific methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycosides tablets combined with Western medicine in the treatment of rheumatic immune diseases by meta-analysis.