Table 3.

Post-treatment total cholesterol levels (mmol/L) in randomized controlled trials

Interventions	No. of trials [references]	No. of participants	Weighted mean difference (95% confidence interval)	P value
RYR vs. no intervention/placebo
Zhibituo vs. no intervention	2 [22, 23]	112	-1.27 (-1.50 to -1.05)	< 0.00001
RYR supplement vs. placebo	1 [7]	83	-1.04 (-1.41 to -0.67)	< 0.00001
Xuezhikang vs. placebo	4 [8, 24–26]	323	-1.04 (-1.46 to -0.62)*	< 0.00001
Zhibituo vs. placebo	3 [27–29]	283	-0.80 (-1.03 to -0.57)	< 0.00001
RYR vs. statins
Xuezhikang vs. simvastatin	15 [6, 30–43]	1455	0.05 (-0.27 to 0.37)*	0.76
Xuezhikang vs. pravastatin	7 [44–50]	594	- 0.20 (- 0.47 to 0.06)*	0.14
Xuezhikang vs. lovastatin	3 [51–53]	174	-0.05 (-0.27 to 0.18)	0.69
Xuezhikang vs. atorvastatin	1 [54]	60	-0.16 (-0.58 to 0.26)	0.46
Xuezhikang vs. fluvastatin	1 [55]	118	0.48 (0.24 to 0.72)	0.0001
Zhibituo vs. simvastatin	9 [32, 56–63]	728	0.11 (-0.03 to 0.25)	0.14
Zhibituo vs. provastatin	1 [22]	62	0.05 (-0.20 to 0.30)	0.70
Zhibituo vs. lovastatin	1 [57]	45	-0.11 (-0.48 to 0.26)	0.56
RYR vs. non-statin drugs
Xuezhikang vs. inositol nicotinate	7 [65–71]	624	-0.56 (-0.81 to -0.31)*	< 0.0001
Xuezhikang vs. fenofibrate	5 [32, 73–76]	337	-0.13 (-0.46 to 0.20)*	0.44
Xuezhikang vs. gemfibrozil	3 [77–79]	156	-0.43 (-1.52 to 0.65)*	0.43
Xuezhikang vs. fish oils	2 [80, 81]	116	-0.81 (-1.11 to -0.50)	< 0.00001
Xuezhikang vs. alginic sodium diester	1 [84]	60	-1.08 (-1.38 to -0.78)	< 0.00001
Xuezhikang vs. conjugated estrogens	1 [85]	44	-0.87 (-1.20 to -0.54)	< 0.00001
Xuezhikang vs. elastase	1 [86]	107	-0.10 (-0.49 to 0.29)	0.61
Xuezhikang vs. biphenalbid	1 [87]	64	0.12 (-0.31 to 0.55)	0.59
Zhibituo vs. inositol nicotinate	8 [88–95]	608	-0.73 (-1.13 to -0.33)*	0.0004
Zhibituo vs. fish oils	6 [97–102]	491	-0.76 (-1.04 to -0.49)*	< 0.00001
Zhibituo vs. fenofibrate	2 [32, 104]	248	0.31 (0.04 to 0.59)	0.02
RYR versus RYR
Xuezhikang vs. Zhibituo	7 [32, 106–111]	701	-0.03 (-0.25 to 0.20)*	0.82

* Random effects model