Table 4.
Level of evidence.
| Certainty assessment | Effect | Certainty | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of studies | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Relative (95% CI) |
Absolute (95% CI) |
||
| TCE | 28 | Serious* | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | RR 1.21 (1.16–1.27) |
152 more per 1000 (from 115 more to 195 more) |
Moderate |
| HM included versus WM | ||||||||
| HM versus WM | 13 | Serious* | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | RR 1.16 (1.08–1.25) |
120 more per 1000 (from 60 more to 188 more) |
Moderate |
| HM + WM versus WM | 15 | Serious* | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | RR 1.25 (1.19–1.31) |
174 more per 1000 (from 132 more to 216 more) |
Moderate |
| Recurrence rate | 7 | Serious* | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | RR 0.35 (0.27–0.45) |
324 fewer per 1000 (from 364 fewer to 274 fewer) |
Moderate |
| RDQ | 8 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Not serious | MD 2.52 lower (3.81 lower to 1.23 lower) |
Low | |
| SF-36 | ||||||||
| Physiological function | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Serious‡ | MD 18.45 higher (17.64 higher to 19.26 higher) |
Very low | |
| Physical function | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Not serious | MD 19.38 higher (18.46 higher to 20.3 higher) |
Low | |
| Body pain | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Not serious | MD 12.12 higher (11.2 higher to 13.05 higher) |
Low | |
| General health | 5 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Serious‡ | MD 29.18 higher (28.49 higher to 29.87 higher) |
Very low | |
| Vitality | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Not serious | MD 15.73 higher (15 higher to 16.45 higher) |
Low | |
| Social functioning | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Not serious | MD 30.81 higher (30.14 higher to 31.49 higher) |
Low | |
| Emotional functioning | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Serious‡ | MD 47.54 higher (46.77 higher to 48.32 higher) |
Very low | |
| Mental health | 6 | Serious* | Serious† | Not serious | Serious‡ | MD 38.46 higher (37.9 higher to 39.03 higher) |
Very low | |
| Serum motilin level | 3 | Serious* | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | MD 48.5 higher (38.07 higher to 58.93 higher) |
Moderate | |
CI = confidence interval, GERDQ = gastroesophageal reflux disease questionnaire, HM = herbal medicine, MD = mean difference, RDQ = reflux diagnostic questionnaire, SF-36 = short-form 36 health survey, TCE = total clinical efficacy, WM = western medicine.
*
Most of the studies have high risk of bias.
†
The heterogeneity is high.
‡
The funnel plot is shown asymmetry.