Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of included studies

Author (Year)	N	Mean age	% Male Participants	Mean disease severity score	Type of treatment		Outcomes	FU time(month)	QA score
					Intervention (dosage)	Control
Adour et al. (1996) [8]	99	43	50	3 (FPRP)	Acyclovir 2,000 mg/day × 10 days Prednisolone 30 mg/kg/day × 5 days, 10 mg/day × next 5 days	Prednisolone with the same dosage	FPRI ≥ 8	4	7
De Diego et al. (1998)[25]	101	-	-	-	Acyclovir 2,400 mg/day ×10 days	Prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day × 10 days, taper over next 6 days	HB grade ≤ II, FPRI score≥ 8	3	3
Hato et al. (2007)[10]	221	50	53	15 (Yanagihara)	Valacyclovir 1,000 mg/day × 5 days Prednisolone 60 mg/day for 5 days, taper with Mecobalamin 1·5 mg/day × 6 months	Placebo	Yanagihara score > 36 points, no facial contracture or synkinesis	6	9
Sullivan et al. (2007) [12]	551	44	51	3.6 (HB)	Acyclovir 2000 mg/day × 10 days Prednisolone 50 mg/day × 10 days	Placebo	HB grade I	3, 9	12
Yeo et al. (2008)[13]	91	41	45	3.7 (HB)	Acyclovir 2,400 mg/day × 5 days Prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day × 4 days with maximum of 80 mg/day, 60 mg/day × 5-6 day, 40 mg/day × 7-8 day, 20 mg/day × 9-10 day	Placebo	HB grade ≤ II	2, 6	2
Engstrom et al. (2008) [9]	829	40	59	4 by HB	Valacyclovir 3,000 mg/day × 7 days Prednisolone 60 mg/day × 5 days, 10 mg/day until 10 days	Placebo	Sunnybrook 100/100, HB ≤ II	1, 2, 3, 6, 12	12